New Beginnings
by AnalogueInterfa3e
Summary: After surviving Silas and Inanna's attempted apocalypse. Carmilla and Laura are living together happily, but after being contacted by a mysterious person, they are drawn back into danger in a race to stop a dangerous object from falling into the wrong hands.
1. Chapter 1: Carmilla

"You're right Carm, Florence really is beautiful. Though, this dusty wine cellar hidden under Italian Knockturn Alley, maybe not so much!" Laura said loudly so she could be heard over the sounds of Carmilla frantically shoving the heaviest objects she could find in front of the wine cellar's creaky wooden door.

"Yeah well, this 'dusty wine cellar under Italian whatever dumb reference that was' is the only thing keeping us from being full of small holes with bits of metal in them." Carmilla replied, hefting yet another barrel of wine against the door.

Laura began to reply back but at that moment the floating dust their hasty entrance into the wine cellar had kicked up caused her to start coughing violently. Instead she found a wall to lean on and rest.

Carmilla had spotted the cellar out of the corner of her eye as the two were running down quite possibly the shiftiest alleyway in all of Florence. The dilapidated wooden door proved easy enough to wrench open, which she had followed up by forcefully pushing Laura in ahead of her and then scrambling into the cellar herself.

The Cellar was tiny, barely bigger than the dorm room they had met in what felt like an age and for one of them literally another life ago. Wine barrels lay scattered randomly and were coated in thick layers of dust. Clearly no one had felt the need to get drunk from the wine in this particular wine cellar for some time. They were safe for the moment but Carmilla could hear the heavy boots of their pursuers outside the door in the distance.

"You could always help me with this." Carmilla said, as she realized she no longer had any barrels in easy reach and that her now very active heart was beating at around a million miles per hour from her exertion.

Had wine barrels always been so heavy? She swore she could remember a time in France, was it Lyon, or maybe Lille? When she and Mattie had 'liberated' what must have been a city full on Bastille Day as some kind of prank. It had been so easy then, what had wine gotten heavier or,

Oh right, not a vampire.

She supposed the adrenaline spike from being shot at could really scramble one's short term memory. Encourage them to fall back on old habits of the three century variety. She would have to put a stop to that, forgetting she wasn't nigh invulnerable and possessing supernatural strength and speed in the middle of firefights would be rather dangerous.

Dangerous, kind of like having a reverie of old times with Mattie when she should be focusing on keeping Laura safe from the armed arschgesichts chasing them through the cobbled streets and dark alleyways of the city. She winced as she rubbed her hand across her stomach and realized she'd been nicked slightly by a bullet or perhaps some shrapnel. Maybe she should try keeping herself safe as well while she was at it.

In the end though, it was Laura who snapped her back to the present.

"Ah, I could, but you do realize the door swings the other way right?"

She paused and didn't say anything for a moment.

"Yes," No. Damn it you idiot. What's next Betty Crocker stress cleaning? Get it together. "Trying to… put up a barrier between us and them in case we can't find another way out of here before they find us."

Fortunately, if Laura thought that Carmilla was lying she gave no indication of it. Instead she directed Carmilla's gaze towards an opulent looking red and white mat lying alone in a back corner.

It looked out of place compared with the dingy and dusty everything else in the tiny cellar. It's expertly crafted stitching marking it out in the room as much as a bright light would have. Laura stopped leaning on the wall and walked towards it.

"If I've learned anything from hours of watching adventure films, it's that stuff like this is totally hiding secret compartments, ancient treasure maps to the macguffin of the hour or maybe just maybe…" She crouched down and grabbed the mat with both hands and pulled hard. "Yes! Secret underground tunnel entrance. Boom."

The displacing of the mat revealed an exit to the cellar in the form of a hatch with a small groove on one end. Laura quickly pressed her fingers into the groove and slid the hatch open, revealing a rather desperate looking ladder leading down into a cramped dark tunnel. With no apparent light sources down there it might as well have led into some kind of eternal abyss for all the two could see.

"The Catacombs of Florence! Any idea where it might lead?" Laura looked up at her as she spoke.

"Paris, Laura, it's the Catacombs of Paris. And no, I don't know anything about any tunnels here in Florence, I do remember one time in this little village near Vienna, the daughter of the Countess Firaggio and I used one to- never mind another time. Wherever it leads it has to be better than getting shot to little meaty pieces here though."

As if to accentuate her point the sounds of running heavy boots outside the cellar door intensified. An Italian voice barked out orders to those boots and the sound of doors being booted down signaled that their refuge in the cellar was soon to be at an end. Carmilla moved to the hatch and put a hand on Laura's shoulder.

"Time to go, I'll be right behind you. Once you get all the way down don't go too far before I get down as well. We don't want to get separated in the dark."

Laura squeezed her hand quickly but tightly before darting down the ladder, its wooden rungs shaking alarmingly as she went. Carmilla waited a few moments before heading down after her.

"Hope I don't get a splinter."

About halfway down she heard the cellar door swing open and the sound of half a dozen barrels of wine being horribly wasted. She decided to risk dropping down the rest of the way. The decision earned her a hard landing and a startled squeak from Laura as she skipped to the side to avoid being crashed down upon.

"I didn't mean literally stay so close as to be directly underneath the ladder." Carmilla chided but also conversely reached out and squeezed Laura's arm in something of an apology.

"C'mon I'm pretty sure they're going to have a decent notion of where we went."

The two took off running down the tunnel. The darkness was oppressive, with barely anything being visible even an arm stretch away. Laura slowed for a few moments and Carmilla stretched out a hand to her, sure she was stumbling, before a white light burst from her hands.

"There we go." Laura proclaimed triumphantly, her cellphone held up like that Hobbit's magic light bulb, now only needing a sword to be ready to fight some kind giant spider. Not that Carmilla had watched those films, she may have flicked through that old fart's books at some stage though.

The light revealed the full nature of the tunnel to them. The grey coloured ground was hard and unyielding in strength without even a hint of a crack or fissure to be found. The stone walls were white and emblazoned with chiselled petroglyphs of magnificent quality. Carmilla could tell that whoever had chiseled their art into these walls was someone of supreme skill and despite the petroglyphs most likely being older than even her, they looked almost as good as the day they had been carved. The ceiling that would have caused taller people than they to be uncomfortable looked as implacable as the ground. Carmilla had more reason than most to be afraid of small spaces but even she had to admit the tunnel appeared to be structurally sound. The ceiling seemed to be as likely to collapse as the ground suddenly turning to water.

The light allowed them to make faster progress through the passageway and it soon became clear that the tunnel was not a simple straight path but was actually quite curvaceous, its twisting paths taking them every which way it pleased. They could hear the heavy boots echoing somewhere behind them, but it was difficult to work out how far.

"You know it's a shame about the whole, running away from bad guys with guns thing. Some of this stuff seems really beautiful, be nice to look at it some more." Laura chirped beside her while they ran.

The passageway was big enough for them to easily run astride each other but it would have been difficult for a third person to do the same.

Carmilla cocked her head slightly towards Laura before she spoke back.

"Well luckily I have something beautiful to look at no matter where I go now."

A lame line in her estimation, not worthy of someone who should have over three centuries of game but it had the desired effect. It earned her a golden smile, visible thanks to the phones white light. She liked earning those, even in situations like these. Especially in situations like these.  
For the next few minutes they continued to run through the winding tunnel, passing by more wondrous carvings as their footsteps and the heavy boots echoed together all around them.

Finally, they found themselves in front of a branching fork in the path and for the first time since entering the tunnel an option on which direction to proceed. Reading each other's minds they stopped together in front of it to catch their breath. The air was heavy in the tunnel and they could only hope their pursuers were finding the going as tough as they were.

"Eenie meenie miney mo?" Laura said between pants, rather unhelpfully.

Carmilla started to reply and then paused. She had noticed the expert craftsmanship of the petroglyphs but only now had the time to discern the texts that accompanied them. Laura noticed alongside her.

"Wait, is that? I mean, I can't actually read it but I remember what it looks like from the books you and the library had-"

"Sumerian, the language is Sumerian."

Laura moved to face her fully.

"Okay, yes we know what kind of… beings would like their creepy tunnel under a perfectly fine to traverse over normally city to be covered in Ancient Sumerian writings, but that doesn't mean-"

"Vampires, dark old tunnel, accessed through a hatch in a shifty part of town, with no real lighting, full of beautiful art and probably the scariest kind of old timey writing there is. Underground a city full of very edible humans. Yeah, Vampire tunnel."

Laura groaned and covered her face with her palms for a few moments, then looked back down the tunnel as the heavy boots seemed to echo louder, closer.

"So, chased by guys with guns who very much appear to be getting closer despite our best efforts and our only option to get away from them is through a tunnel that we've now realized was probably made by vampires."

Laura gave Carmilla a look. Equal parts resignation, frustration but also and most importantly as far as Carmilla was concerned, determination. Her next words had some humour, a lightness to them.

"I keep dragging you into all kinds of fun, don't I?


	2. Chapter 2: Laura

Laura hummed to herself softly as she wandered with an absent mind through the peacefully quiet rooms of their cottage. Their cottage, she wasn't sure if she should be getting used to calling it that but more and more she found herself slipping into it, trying out the phrase to see how she liked it. The fact she would find herself smiling whenever she said or even thought the two words suggested she did. Carmilla would often notice and ask her what she was so happy about. So far in response she had either come up with some other explanation or avoided the question by initiating activities more exciting than simply exchanging words.

She wasn't sure why she hadn't told Carmilla the truth of what had been making her smile so often. Perhaps it was the fact they didn't know who the cottage really belonged to, if anyone.

They had found it abandoned a few miles from Silas completely by accident when the two had gone walking with no particular destination in mind, only a need to be alone, away from any living creature that had two legs and could talk. Away from anything that could interrupt them. It was the day after what could only be described as a 'Final Battle' had been fought in the pit under the Lustig building. The final showdown between them and Inanna that they had somehow survived and ultimately emerged triumphant in.

They barely spoke but the silence was comfortable, not stilted, their hands almost having conversations of their own as they intertwined together during their meandering trek.

They stopped to rest multiple times, Laura nesting her head on Carmilla's chest, listening contentedly to her newly beating heart. They couldn't lie against a tree forever but they didn't want to go back either so they continued onwards. The logic didn't really make much sense but neither questioned it in the least. Neither wanted to.

Without the threat of an Angler Fish Old One and other lovely Silas things infecting the mood like the last time they had left the University, the mountainous Austrian countryside was truly beautiful. The sun shone brightly on green fields and pine trees. The hills they hiked over were full of life, peaceful woodland creatures coming out to play now that the White Witch was dead. Or in this case the evil God was now a, well, God again.

It struck Laura as a great irony that if her story at Silas was one of accepting that Disney-esque stories weren't true and that life was filled with grey morality and the need to compromise then how strange that it had ended with her hugging the final villain and frolicking with peaceful creatures like some caricature of a Disney Princess.

She chose to air this thought to Carmilla, who laughed without reservation, which like her smiles, Laura had decided was a wonderful thing that she would endeavour to make happen as much as possible.

"Forgot you weren't around when a God mentioned you'd changed that story. Got your happy ending after all, Laura, the moral of the story is you are amazing. Book closed."

They'd embraced in that moment, kissing as the sun shined down on them, animals running all around, birds chirping. Then one of those birds chose that moment to defecate on Laura's head. Oh well, can't get everything right. She was about to suggest that it was finally time to head back when she saw it. On a flat plain at the foot of one of the larger mountains lay the cottage.

It was nothing special. Modest size, thatched roof with a brick chimney, stacked up firewood underneath an, admittedly overrun by vegetation, balcony overlooking what looked to be once a well-kempt garden. To Laura it looked like some kind of heaven, a perfect place where she and Carmilla could spend some time alone. Perhaps she had died after all and this was some kind of afterlife?

They rushed back to Silas as quickly as they could and staked a claim on their prize in their own manners. Laura calmly advised her father and friends that she and Carmilla would be staying there for a time before moving on, while Carmilla calmly advised everyone else that she would brutally murder anyone who came near. They both had their ways and they smiled at each other as they went about them.

Her father was loath to let her leave again but she made it clear there was no argument to be had. As for her friends, she didn't like to admit it but she found herself detached from them. She felt a general sense of happiness that they and most of the student body had survived but every time she tried to connect more fully the footage of Laf and Perry simply leaving her dead body in a crying Carmilla's arms seemed to force its way into her mind.

As uneasy as it made her she could not help but find herself wishing to free of their presence, of anyone's presence except for Carmilla's, the woman who had fought for her, who had helped her grow into a better person and who had risked everything to save her. She hoped it was a temporary thing, but for now the world could wait. She only had eyes for one.

* * *

After some vigorous cleaning and serious pest control, the inside of the cottage gave off an almost supernatural level of warmth and comfort. For the next three months Laura found herself unwinding, long built up stress leaving her body. She felt looser, more at ease than perhaps at any point in her life. For the first time she couldn't think of a goal she wanted to achieve, a wrong needing to be righted or a threat to worried about. Wake up, be with her. Eat, be with her. Sleep, be with her. Repeat daily for best results.

Still humming she wandered into their bedroom. An old oak bed took up most of the space, its soft mattress inviting even in the middle of the day. She remembered the first night they had spent in it after they had made the cottage habitable. It had been raining outside, the sound of water softly pit pattering on the straw roof lulling them both to slumber. Laura had fought to keep her eyes open though, she had things on her mind. Things she had to say.

"So human now." She ventured into the silence.

A sleepy, "Mmm-hmm," was all she got in return. Carmilla, unlike her, had no such desire to fight the sleep overtaking them. Her eyes were closed, her slow breathing coming out like a purr, one thing that had not changed in the transition from vampire to human.

"So no supernatural speed, strength, healing. Can eat real food now though! No more blood…" She left her words hanging.

Carmilla's eyes flicked open, directly into Laura's. Awake now, realizing Laura's clear anxiety.

"I'm not upset. I haven't lost anything I cannot do without. I've gained something so much more important than that. I know it's probably tough for you to wrap your head around. You haven't experienced being dead. Well, not the way I have. Those other things, the strength, the speed-"

"Immortality, things like immortality." Laura's voice had become raw. "You've lost that. Because of me you lost that. If I had just done things your way, your mother never would have been able to do that to you. Immortality! That's like the holy grail of things people want and thanks to me-"

Carmilla wrapped her hands around the back of Laura's head and pulled her close. Their foreheads touching, her eyes full of intensity.

"I need you to listen to me. I am not sad about it. At all. Like I said, it's hard for you to understand but you ask any vampire that hasn't lost their mind in all the power and they'll tell you they would give back everything, immortality included for one more chance at life. To have their heart beat once more. I have a life now and one, if you're forever willing, I can spend with you, wherever that leads. What happened to me was a gift, something to celebrate. You have cost me nothing, taken from me nothing. But you have given me so much. I don't want you to ever think differently for even a second liebling. Do you understand?"

Laura nodded. She had followed Carmilla's every word with fervour, though she'd need to translate liebling later.

"It's not like my whole world was black and white or I was colour blind like some dog. But being a vampire, it was like the colour of the world had drained away slightly. Now it's flooding back and it's beautiful and," she took a moment to search for the word, "vibrant. I need to see the world again, the whole thing over again and I want you to come with me."

Laura couldn't stop smiling and nodding, so swept up in the moment.

"Yes, yes I'd love that, but like, in the future right? I'd also love to stay here for a bit longer at least. Hey, wait a second. How did I look, you know, when your world was ah, desaturated? "

She remembered how Carmilla's eyes had sparkled then, full of mischief.

"That's the thing. The more time I spent with you. The more you stood out, brighter and more colourful than everything around you." Her mouth opened into a smile shining with white teeth.

"So imagine how good you look and feel… and taste to me now."

* * *

Laura's humming became louder as she recalled the more vivid memories of how things went from there. Despite having gotten up only a short time ago she looked longingly at what very quickly become the bed of nothing but very good memories. Suddenly locating Carmilla seemed like a great idea. Moving with more purpose she exited the bedroom and made her way through the living room past a quietly burning fireplace towards the front door.

She found Carmilla where she expected her to be, sitting on a tree stump out in front of the cottage while skinning yet another rabbit she had hunted down while Laura slept. This had become quite a common thing over the last three months and while for the most part life here had been heavenly she wouldn't mind eating something that wasn't rabbit for a change. The first time Carmilla had decided she was hungry and hence something needed to die Laura was taken aback by the whole grisly business. Fluffy bunnies were just not something you went out and murdered.

"Sorry cupcake," Carmilla had said, busting out one of the many nicknames that could either be used as a term of endearment or to indicate that in her mind Laura had woken up on the naïve side of the bed that day. "Gotta eat something at some point, you'll be thanking me tonight. I could hear your stomach rumbling from the other side of the building."

"How did you even catch it? You know without the whole super speed thing?" She said, while silently cursing her traitorous rumbling stomach for its part in the fluffy bunny murder.

Carmilla flashed her a smile so toothy it was almost feral. Anyone other than Laura would probably have felt good cause to fear had she shown it to them.

"You can take the vampire out of the human but after three centuries of hunting you can never take the hunter out of the woman." She dropped the rabbit and produced a shining throwing knife out of apparently nowhere. She pointed to a rusting garden gnome sitting near the front door. "I'm not fast anymore."

She flicked her wrist violently and the gnome had a knife in its forehead. Carmilla grinned triumphantly.

"But the knife can be."

Carmilla went back to skinning the rabbit. Quiet for a moment before speaking again. "As for this part," She gestured towards the half skinned rabbit and the rather cruel looking skinning knife. "I actually learned how to do this before I became a vampire."

Sensing a story, Carmilla opening up, Laura put aside her unease over the rabbit and sat down next to her.

"Living in a castle as a Countess had its privileges I won't deny. I lived better than most, but I had no other siblings and father was loath to give me many chances to interact with people my own age. I was too valuable to risk getting into any entanglements, much better to keep me alone in the castle, like a chest of gold only to be used when the right deal could be made."

"But one day, during the winter, was I ten? Something around that, I finally had the chance to see some of the world outside of the castle. Father had some event to go to and felt the need to bring me along to show off. We rode on a carriage through a number of villages. We stopped at one on the way to rest. My father told me to stay close to the inn we were staying in but I so wanted to explore, everything was so different, so interesting. I slipped my escort and took a look around."

Laura couldn't help but laugh.

"No one could tell you what to do, control you even then."

"Oh you have no idea how scared I was. Father could be terrifying when he wanted to be, to a small child at least. But this was my chance, I knew it and so I forged on heedless of whatever punishment awaited me. I happened upon a boy, only a bit older than I. He sat on a rock skinning a rabbit much like this one. You'd think I would have been repulsed, young sheltered privileged girl but I wasn't. I was curious and came up to him, all bright eyed in my ridiculous white silk dress. Way too thin for the winter months but I was supposed to stay in the nice and warm inn so," She waved the thought away with her hand and continued on.

"He was kind, he told me his name, Emich or Emrich, I don't remember exactly anymore. He told me that he was an apprentice to one of the village hunters, that one day he would provide food for half the village. He was very proud of this future he imagined for himself. It was all new for me, for all I knew food simply magically appeared on the plates servants placed before me. I asked him what he was doing with the rabbit. He explained and offered to show me. I was terrible at first, dropping the knife, probably closer to slitting my wrists than skinning the rabbit. But he was patient and eventually I got the hang of it. Mircalla Countess Karnstein's first vocational skill, skinning rabbits." She laughed lightly.

"I got blood and guts all over my dress, I looked like a mess. I panicked, idiot girl. For some reason I thought the dirty dress would get me into even more trouble than slipping away. I begged the boy to help me clean it and that's how my father found us, the boy energetically rubbing down my dress in a fruitless attempt to get the blood out." Carmilla took a deep breath before continuing.

"My father and his men beat him badly for his 'impropriety' and I never saw him again. How dare he touch my father's valuable girl. My father of course was concerned that we were going to, you know, but it wasn't like that. I was ten years old. And as I got older I realized those kind of desires went in the opposite direction than boys. No I was lonely and I wanted a friend. I was always looking for a friend."

Laura eyes were glistening by the end of all of that. Too many of Carmilla's stories made them do that, but she cherished every single one Carmilla told her regardless. Tiny windows into the fascinating story of her life.

"I'm so sorry Carm. I wish I could have known you back then, I think I would have liked to have been that friend."

Carmilla had smiled genuinely at that. She cupped a hand around Laura's cheek.

"I love you," Carmilla said. "'For all the hurts that I have received I would gladly receive them all over again if it means one more moment with my dearly beloved'."

Laura snorted.

"It is so not fair that you have all those classic quotes to throw out at me, especially because half the time you refuse to tell me where they come from." She side eyed the hand on her cheek.

"Also eww, rabbit blood and guts. Gerroff me you fluffy bunny murderer."

* * *

Carmilla swung round as Laura approached.

"Morning sleepy head, you'll be happy to know that this is all finished up." She held out the rabbit, an offering of a dead animal from a cat.

Laura's eyes sparkled and her words came out of a coquettish smirk.

"I'm sure that must have been so tiring for you, I'm sure you'd love to come back to bed after all that."

Carmilla like always caught on quickly.

"Yeah it is getting pretty late." She drawled as the noon sun shone down brightly as ever down on them. "Wouldn't mind settling in."

It wasn't long until they were both back in the bed of very good memories. Right after they had spent some time on the couch of very good memories, preceded by some time against the wall of very good memories. Laura concluded that the whole cottage was full of good memory spots.

"Yeah, I have to hand it to you sweetheart, when you have a good idea you have a good idea." Carmilla said, her voice a low purr.

Laura giggled. "Sweetheart? I think that might be a new one. I don't think you've called me that one before."

"Oh don't you worry. I have built up a battery of terms of endearment all ready to go just for you." Carmilla promised.

"Sweetheart, liebling, Irinini Arammu, amoureux." She punctuated each one with kisses to her mouth, her neck, her cheek. Carmilla kept her guessing.

Knock Knock!

So alien was the noise by this point they both took a moment to work out what was happening. The knocking on their door continued, a confident knock rapping against firmly against the wood.

Carmilla fixed Laura with a blank stare.

"Okay, hear me out, think carefully. What will kill the mood more? Me quickly popping over there to murder whoever is out there and then popping back or we having to let them in to find out what they want?"

Laura giggled uncontrollably for a moment before stifling it with the back of her hand.

"Murder, definitely the murder option would kill the mood more."

Carmilla rolled her eyes and then rolled off the bed. Laura watched her put on a kimono and head out of the room. After a few moments she heard Carmilla open the door, violently. Laura could hear the conversation clearly from the bed.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Hello Ms Carmilla Karnstein." A female voice, the words it spoke sharp and clipped, full of easy confidence. "You do not know me but my name is Bolade Okoye and I am here on urgent business which concerns you greatly."

"Ok, so my question is actually still the same. Who. The. Hell. Are. You? And how did you find this place?"

"Retasked Imaging Satellite over Europe. Am I correct in my assumption that Ms Laura Hollis is here as well?"

"Uhh." Carmilla said.


	3. Chapter 3: Laura

Laura jumped to her feet and made for the living room where Carmilla and the new arrival were talking. She got to the bedroom door before she remembered she was still naked. The realization prompted her to quickly push the door closed, spin on her heels and put on the first piece of clothing she could find. Another of Carmilla's kimonos as it turned out. As she rapidly got herself dressed the conversation between Carmilla and the stranger continued.

"Yes, Ms Laura Hollis? Daughter of Sherman and Amanda Hollis, current student at Silas University, though what is current at that school is up for debate. Recently celebrated a twentieth birthday a month ago I believe."

The voice continued to have an easy air of confidence, the words came out clearly and precisely, the authority in them reminding her of a teacher taking control of a class or a doctor conversing down to a patient.

"Did you say an Imaging Satellite?"

"Re-tasked yes. Now please, Ms Hollis where is she? Is she somewhere around the premises? It is imperative I talk to the both of you."

In her rush Laura had conspired to put the kimono on the wrong way twice before getting it right. Finally clothed and feeling slightly frazzled she pulled the bedroom door back open and walked with as much purposeful confidence as she could muster into the conversation.

Despite the new woman's attempts to control proceedings Carmilla was having none of it.

"Yeah I don't think so, this is the third time I've had to ask who you are and I have no idea what you're doing here. So unless you talk real fast or take that suit somewhere else real fast, things are going to get ugly. For you."

From her tone Laura could almost see the threatening sneer on Carmilla's face. Laura knew she would have to calm things down. Carmilla could be irascible when people interrupted their more intimate moments together.

"Madame Ms, Countess Karnstein please, I have told you who I am. Bolade Okoye happy to meet you. As for why I am here, I think it best to speak to the both of you at the same time about some urgent business." If this Bolade Okoye was intimidated nothing in her voice suggested it. It had now taken on the quality of a professional dealing with an unruly client.

"That name doesn't mean anything to me, like you said I don't know you. And the only urgent business right now is you-"

"It's ok Carm, I'm sure she's just a nice lady here for something important." Maybe, hopefully. "We can let her in."

Laura had arrived in the living room and could now see as well as hear the situation.

Over Carmilla's shoulders and outside the door stood a tall, black woman with a bald head and a customer service smile spread across her face. White teeth gleamed from that smile and Laura expected that had it been more genuine it would probably be dazzling. She wore a modest but immaculately maintained black blazer and trouser suit over a buttoned white shirt. In her right hand she held some kind of tablet. From her body language and the way Carmilla's left arm barred the open doorway Laura guessed she had tried at least once to smoothly enter the cottage but found herself resolutely blocked.

At Laura's words, green eyes found her and the smile became more genuine for having encountered someone who wasn't actively threatening her with bodily harm. She was right, much dazzle.

"Yes excellent. Thank you yes I can assure you both I am not here to cause harm. Quite the contrary I have an offer for you both."

Okoye looked expectantly at Carmilla who after sharing a look with Laura relented. She removed her hand barring the entrance and backed away slightly, the glare however, remained. Okoye met her continued hostility with her resolutely pasted on smile and came in. She found a chair situated at the living rooms small round dining table and sat down. She began to place her tablet on the table's white cloth cover but thought better of it as she noticed it was covered in coffee stains. Instead she kept it on her lap and looked up at the pair of them.

"Well then, would you both like to sit down as well?"

Laura sat down on another chair across the table from her and crossed her arms. Carmilla elected to remain standing. Laura knew it wouldn't take much for her to start pacing like an irritated predator if she didn't like what Okoye had to say.

"You said something about an offer?"

Okoye seemed to relax slightly as she spoke. "Yes but first, Bolade Okoye. It is a pleasure to meet you Ms Hollis." She offered her hand.

Did she try that with Carm? Laura eyed it like she had extended a snake from her arm and shook it stiffly.

"Yeah that's me, student at Silas, twenty year old. I'd keep going but you apparently already know everything about me so."

Okoye gave her yet another smile. "Oh I see, so you did hear our conversation at the door. Yes well I would have mentioned what we have on file with Ms Karnstein but then we would be here all day wouldn't we?"

She broke into a laugh. Neither Laura nor Carmilla joined her in it.

"Because of how large it is." Okoye said.

If Carmilla's eyes narrowed any further Laura thought her vision would look like the view of a squashed periscope. She spoke in a growl. "File? You have us both on file? For the last time lady who are you?"

Okoye threw up her hands, placating. "But of course we have a file on you two, how could we not? Everyone who is anyone has one for you two now, in particular intelligence and governmental agencies."

Laura and Carmilla tried to process what Okoye had said in a stunned silence. Finally Carmilla regained her voice while Laura remained frozen with her mouth open.

"You're some kind of spook?"

Okoye nodded.

"I work for people who are genuinely looking to make the world a better place and a big part of that is making sure people are safe. With that in mind knowing who the two people most responsible for stopping certain undesirable events are is something that we consider important."

She had a little chuckle.

"I have to tell you, we like everyone else were really caught off guard when the lights turned off everywhere a few months ago. Even if they did turn back on soon after, we all rather thought it would be beneficial to find out exactly what the hell happened. Your videos were quite illuminating, thank you."

"But I set them to private, friends only. No reposts!" Laura burst out, coming back to life.

Okoye's smile became small and pitying. "Yes the boys at the NSA found that very cute and they were more than happy to share with the rest of us. Although, I suspect that was mostly so nobody accused them of being insane for suggesting the blackout event was caused by an ancient Sumerian Goddess who was only stopped before unleashing hell on earth by a hug from an undergrad."

Laura couldn't quite get her brain to work. A tingling feeling that her whole world had been turned upside down snaked through her body. What would her life be like now if.

"So everyone knows, like everyone. The whole world knows we saved everybody-"

"Oh good heavens no!" Okoye shook her head emphatically. "No of course not, everyone in the know simply decided that it would be best if the world were not aware about ancient Death Gods and vampires. We have been spreading more palatable disinformation for the masses for months. There is nothing to worry about, people are still skeptical about climate change, telling them magic isn't real is not a hard sell."

Laura let out a long held breath and the tingling throughout her body stopped. Okoye had noticed her reactions.

"I can see that I distressed you, my apologies. I forgot that you two have been up here and clearly out of touch with the world. Do not be alarmed, your private lives are still your own, as long as you do not try to write a book or something. Or a movie, absolutely do not try to make a movie. Or we will have to kill you. Kidding!" Okoye threw her hands up again defensively as Carmilla moved towards her with a great deal of menace. "But in all seriousness do not do that a lot of people in the intelligence community will be very upset with you."

It occurred to Laura that Okoye really seemed to be in her element here and even enjoying herself, despite the constant threat of violence from Carmilla. She didn't know this woman but even from this short exchange she could feel the aura of self-assurance emanating off her. She also couldn't help but think that despite Carmilla's attempts to the contrary the conversation was now proceeding as Okoye expected it would, with her in control and in command of all the important information.

"So what are you here for? What is this offer you were talking about?" Carmilla said, clearly not willing to cede control of the conversation without a fight.

"Yes absolutely, why am I here? I am here because..." She trailed off for a moment as she tapped a few times on her tablet. "Because of this." She turned the tablet around and held it out to the two of them.

On the screen she saw a photograph of an old mask. It looked like it was made out of some kind of blue stone and its facial features were painted in gold. Its golden lips curved upwards in a smile and its eyes were exaggerated in size, giant and gold, staring sightlessly at nothing. Beside her Carmilla sucked in a breath, instinctively Laura reached out for her, placing a hand on her arm.

"Carm? What is it?"

"I remember that mask. The Sarratum." Carmilla murmured.

"Yes you are correct Ms Karnstein. The Melammu Ina Sarratum is the full name, the closest English translation being 'Awe Inspiring Luminosity from Falsehood'. Quite beautiful, the stone it is made from is lapis lazuli. The Sumerians used it a lot to make jewelry and art of many kinds I'm told." Okoye said.

"This is my Mother's mask, it belongs to her." Carmilla said.

Laura jumped at the mention of Inanna and she now had both hands around Carmilla's arm. After many months such behaviours had become ingrained, instinctively being in physical contact reassuring and granting strength to them both.

"Was your Mother's mask and did belong to her. Inanna was it? According to your video's action finale, she doesn't really have a corporeal form to use a physical mask anymore. Or stop it from getting auctioned off more importantly."

Carmilla gave Okoye a blank stare.

"You're here because my Mother's old mask is getting auctioned off somewhere?"

"No an auction we could handle ourselves, we have the money. The man running the auction had no idea of its true value anyway. No the problem is that a week ago it was stolen in Florence three days before the auction was scheduled."

"Stolen by whom?" Laura asked, natural inquisitiveness coming to the fore.

"The man's name is Giuseppe Pisano, a professional career thief. Mostly small time but he's hit the jackpot with this one. We are not quite sure how he knew the Sarratum's real value or its connection to Karnstein but he does and that is where you two come in." Okoye gestured to Carmilla and Laura.

"What do you mean he knows the mask's connection to Carmilla? How would he know that? And how do you know that he knows that? Also how do we come in here?"

Laura was in full flow now, investigative juices flowing. This was a mystery and mysteries were made to solved, not only that but a mystery with a side of spy intrigue as well. She vaguely considered the fact that Okoye, who had presumably watched all her Silas videos, would know about this side of her and be playing on it but she couldn't help but be intrigued by what Okoye was telling them regardless.

Okoye played with the tablet some more before answering Laura's rapid fire questions.

"We know he is aware of the connection between Karnstein and the mask because he has been trying to contact you two by commenting on your last uploaded video and no we do not know how he was made aware of or got access to your videos. Six days ago he posted a comment detailing that he had the mask and wanted to set up a meet in Florence. He appears to be under the impression that as a Countess and Inanna's, ah, vampiric daughter that you must have a sizable fortune squirrelled away."

Carmilla shrugged. "I don't, Mother and Mattie always took care of all that."

"Regardless you can both still be helpful. Pisano is still in Florence and he wants to meet you at a marketplace there two days from now. If you show up he'll reveal himself to us and we get the Sarratum."

"Wait wait wait, just a second here I actually forgot the real important question as you both seem to know something I don't." Laura interjected. "Why exactly is this mask so important again? I mean it looks real valuable in an 'It belongs in a museum!' kind of way but-"

"The mask has power, a lot of it. I remember the one time my Mother used it. That was a memorable experience to say the least. The wrong kind of people could cause a hell of a lot of pain with it." Carmilla said.

Carmilla's eyes drilled into Okoye's.

"I don't see how you could know what the mask does and I don't think you should know. I need to know what you plan to do with it once you get it."

"Whatever the mask does it is our opinion that the toys of a mad God who tried to unleash hell on the world are too dangerous to keep lying around. We will destroy the Sarratum immediately of course."

Carmilla didn't let up her stare. It was as if she could peer into Okoye's soul if she kept it up long enough. Finally Laura saw a crack in the woman's unflappable demeanour as she sat pinned to her seat by Carmilla's gaze. A long uneasy silence fell upon the living room and Laura could have sworn beads of sweat appeared on Okoye's face. Finally Carmilla relented and Okoye gasped out a breath. Carmilla looked to Laura and then they both looked at Okoye.

"We need to think about it." They said in perfect unison.

Okoye nodded and continued playing with her tablet.

"Of course I expected you would need some time to think it over. You should know however that while we think this is a good cause we are not a charity and you will be reimbursed for your troubles." She extended the tablet towards them again. "This is a digital version of the contract, I think you will find the payment for your time quite reasonable."

Laura took a look at the screen, saw the number of zeros and almost had a coronary right then and there. Carmilla simply shrugged and pushed the tablet back.

"Like we said, we'll think about it."

"Absolutely, just don't take too long." Okoye pulled out two pieces of paper from a trouser pocket and placed them on the table. "These are two tickets for a flight from Graz Airport to Florence, the plane leaves tomorrow night. If you decide you want to help get on that plane, we'll know if you do."

She got up from her seat and headed for the door, when she reached it she turned to look at them.

"Until then goodbye or maybe goodbye forever your choice. Lastly I really must apologize, judging from your attire." She gestured at their kimonos. "I think I interrupted something."

And with that she opened the door and left.

* * *

They were silent for a time after Okoye's exit. Carmilla pulled up a chair next to Laura, who idly ran her fingers up and down Carmilla's arm as they processed a rather absorbing conversation. Finally Laura started speaking.

"Look this isn't something we have to do. I don't want to drag us into another mess. We're happy here and you have the chance for a life without danger or mysteries or your Mother. I'm not going to push you into this, I'm done doing that. Whatever you want to do is what we'll do. So we can just not get on that plane and then things will be fine."

"I want us to go." Carmilla said.

Laura was stunned, unsure if she had heard what Carmilla had said properly. This went against every expectation. Sure Carmilla had led the charge briefly against her Mother during Laura's slight breakdown of confidence. But by then the ball was already well and truly rolling without a real chance for them to disentangle themselves from the situation. This was an entirely new situation that currently didn't have to involve them. Yet Carmilla wanted them to leap into it?

"I know what you're thinking and yes, I do realize this is me we're talking about here, arguing for us to jump into a snake pit and not the other way round. I don't trust that woman and I don't think she told us everything or that even what she did tell us was all truth. But I do know that mask is dangerous and if we have a chance to destroy it, we should take it. The chance to destroy any of Mother's old shit is worth a look."

She pressed her forehead to Laura's, her words becoming quieter and more intimate.

"Besides, I think destroying that mask would be the right thing to do and maybe that's something I find myself considering more the longer I'm with you."

Laura raised her eyebrows at her. "Oh please I get it 'right thing to do' I'm sure. This is more like a teenager burning their outta town parent's car during a rebellious phase. And now you're trying to twist that into some kind of heroic turn to seduce me."

Carmilla grinned.

"Is it working?"

Laura paused before answering.

"Yes." Laura intertwined her fingers in Carmilla's hair and went in for a kiss. The intention being for it to be teasing but like so often before it turned into something longer and much more enjoyable. Laura moved over to Carmilla's ear and whispered into it.

"You wanted to travel the world again, let's start with Florence."

"It's beautiful," Carmilla promised. "You'll love it, so we're in agreement? We're going?"

"Are you serious, me not wanting a chance at cracking a mystery? I wanna find out how this Pisano guy knows about you and how he got access to my videos. Also we're basically going on a spy mission for a supernatural ancient doom mask. I've watched the Indiana Jones trilogy over a hundred times I'm never saying no to this."

Laura disentangled herself from Carmilla, sat up and started pacing around the room. Her blood pumping, excitement coursing through her. The last three months had been heaven, but it felt good to have a task, a mission.

"Ok so tonight we pack, tomorrow we plan out exactly how we're going to do this. We are going to need clothes, sundries, probably that rather scary throwing knife you apparently just have now. What?" She noticed Carmilla staring at her, clearly not hearing any of the words she was saying.

"God you look good in that." Carmilla said, biting her lower lip as she looked Laura up and down.

Laura grinned with one side of her mouth.

"Yeah well it was the first thing I could grab, at least we matched. You don't look so bad yourself by the way." She felt herself biting her own lip as well. "You know maybe we can pack tomorrow."

"Let's pack nothing but kimonos." Carmilla said, as she rushed towards her.


	4. Chapter 4: Laura

After the months long stay at the cottage preceded by being cooped up in a library with less than a handful of people, Graz Airport during a busy evening was quite the culture shock. In place of serene silence and chirping birds, a cacophony of human voices and screaming engines. The sheer noise of it all seemingly threatening to physically blow Laura off her feet and once they entered the bustling crowd inside her head started to spin. Far too many people, far, far too many people, did everyone in the world decide they needed to go to Austria for some reason? Carmilla noted her discomfort beside her.

"Clutching me about as hard as you did when we went off to fight Mother. Fear of crowds or fear of flying?" She said, but gave a reassuring squeeze to Laura's forearm.

"Flying is just fine, crowds are just fine. I am just fine, just need a moment." Laura tried to not rush her words but failed utterly.

"Just fine" Carmilla echoed, clearly amused. "Yeah you're right, the end of the world and an ancient evil God is nothing. This is the true horror show. There is a reason I usually travelled on boat. Much more calm, less people, less noise. And the stars to look up at during the trip."

"Couldn't you turn into a panther and run basically anywhere faster than any vehicle could take you? Well maybe not on water. Could you run on water when you were a panther? You were really fast and you know, magic and vampire stuff. Probably should have tested that out, did you test that out? Wait didn't you teleport that one time or was that a dream? I mean teleportation would have been super useful at least half a dozen times this last year." She ran out of breath.

Carmilla took a moment to process the machine gun quick torrent of words that had been broadsided at her before replying.

"Okay, so what we're going to do is take a breath and find a quiet spot somewhere before your lungs give out, we've got some time before the flight."

They pushed through the crowd, Carmilla taking the lead. After a brief search, an only barely averted fight to the death when Carmilla decided one of the thousands of people they had pressed through had bumped Laura on purpose and a pair of athletic leaps an Olympian would have been proud of over a gigantic coffee spill they found a spot. An unused bench behind a dilapidated looking stall selling 'Local Cuisine'. Its owner looked at them hopefully over his bushy moustache at the rare prospect of a costumer.

Carmilla fixed him with a cold glare at his 'intrusion' into what Laura could only conclude she had decided to be formerly a public bench and now their own personal space, carrying the penalty of death for trespass. The struggling shopkeeper quickly looked away, his moustache comically drooping low and downcast. Laura took pity and stepped up to the stall to buy a pastry based on which name she found easiest to pronounce before returning to the bench and a waiting Carmilla.

"You'll regret that." Carmilla said as she sat down. "Three centuries of not being able to really enjoy anything that wasn't a red liquid properly and I still would never touch that stuff for any price. Whatever you paid, he ripped you off."

Laura took a bite out of the pastry and quickly agreed with Carmilla's assessment, but before she could put it away she noticed the moustached shopkeeper looking at her anxiously. Inwardly cursing her own empathy she smiled up at him and braved a second bite. The moustache flew upwards and the man turned away, clearly ecstatic. She couldn't quite put her finger on the cause but her head had cleared totally and she felt relaxed for the first time since she had gotten up that morning. Or more accurately since the woman Okoye had entered their cottage. Their cottage, another smile.

"Or perhaps not, I would have thought you'd more enjoy the Steirisches Plätzchen, second one from the left first row. It's kind of like a cookie. Well, kind of like a cookie if it was murdered, left to decompose for a while and then filled with the souls of the damned before serving."

Laura laughed.

"No your right, whatever this is supposed to be its awful, my dad's crummy pancakes are better than this. But, giving that man over there something nice to think about for the day does taste good." She took another agonizing bite to that effect.

Her pocket vibrated and she pulled out a cell phone.

"Didn't notice you grab that, looks expensive."

Carmilla had started smiling while she talked about the moustached shopkeeper. She couldn't quite work out why so instead she accepted the switch in topic.

"Why not?" She said with a shrug of the shoulders. "This Okoye is offering more money than I've ever seen for our little Florence vacation. And it's not like I'm ever paying my tuition fees for a year at Slytherin High where I got my heart ripped out and the apocalypse happened."

"Yeah if anything, they should probably pay you." Carmilla said.

"So might as well re-join the twenty first century so my Dad can text me every hour for upda- Oh no, I've made a terrible mistake."

They both chuckled lightly before Carmilla spoke again.

"Texts from your father, perhaps also some from your friends? Knock off mediocre ginger Ghostbuster or Betty Crocker?" She was prodding, fishing for something, it seemed to Laura.

Laura shrugged again.

"Yeah, maybe."

Carmilla's face grew concerned.

"What's happened between you and the Scooby Squad? You were close with all of them. Tried to save Betty Crocker to the point of sacrificing yourself, and now-"

"I did that for you, for everyone. I… gang. It's Scooby Gang, not, never mind." Laura took a breath.

"I'm... not feeling like being around them at the moment, that's all. I'll talk to them I will, just not right now."

"You spend months alone with me, not once walking back to Silas to see them even though the cottage was barely a few hours away. We could have swung by on our way here but on your suggestion we didn't. You have a phone, yet you don't even want to text them. Now I couldn't really care less about Team Scrub but they're your friends."

"Friends who left me dead on the ground and you crying alone, some friends they turned out to be." She bristled for a moment and continued. "Every time I think about them I see them walking away or filming us in pain and I haven't quite got passed it."

Carmilla's gaze turned to a small family walking past them, oblivious to the moustaches attempts to get their attention. They were laughing and hugging each other as they went, obviously elated over their reunion. The picture of a happy family.

"Don't isolate yourself Laura. There is a petty part of me that can get jealous by you just talking to someone else but the better part knows that you're not some dark loner, I don't want you to not have friends."

Laura stayed quiet for a time, composing her next words.

"You're right I'm not a dark loner, but I've never been the easiest person to get along with either. I'm sure you probably noticed but I can get a little intense over things. Tunnel vision, grand crusades, even when I was younger-"

"Yeah your Dad had some stories."

"I'm sure he did." Laura rolled her eyes. "School often felt more like a battleground than anything else. Always onward to the next crusade until the whole world was exactly as it should be as conceived by Laura Hollis. But when I got home every day, my Dad would still be at work and I was alone. Those few hours before he got home I would feel so relaxed, no one watching and expecting me to lead the next charge for righteousness. I could be me. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world."

She found Carmilla's eyes.

"With you it's like that old feeling again but so much better. When I'm with you, wherever I am I'm me and I'm home. So hopefully you can forgive me for not really being into interacting with other people right now. You're kind of ruining the rest of the human race for me."

Carmilla shook her head and smiled. "Consider the argument well and truly won, Hollis. There is nothing I can really say to that. Look, even if things between you and the Side Kick Gang aren't copacetic right now, remember to keep yourself open okay?"

Laura held out her hands in a placating gesture.

"Hey consider me open, I'm opened, Laura Hollis is open for business. Come on in. Open."

* * *

Laura decided that Graz Airport was much more tolerable when you found a place to sit where the majority of its inhabitants actively avoided. Although she had felt the need to buy another of the moustache's pastries, which she was seriously becoming concerned were legitimately poisonous. While she munched down on her second nightmare pastry, Carmilla had found a way to turn the hard bench into a couch, with Laura's lap as a makeshift pillow. After finishing the last tortured bite a playful gleam entered Laura's eyes.

"I almost forgot, having this phone also means an internet connection, which means instant translations of whatever you want. German, French, Italian oh, that might be useful later, or maybe I don't know Ancient Sumerian. So Irinini Arammu huh?"

Carmilla remained silent, her body still as a statue.

"Irinini Arammu. Translation, let's check this one more time." She pressed her fingers around the phone for a few moments. "Translation 'sweet smelling lady love'."

Carmilla's eyes started to widen and Laura could feel her tensing up.

"Yep, sweet smelling lady love. The former vampire seductress herself, The Countess Karnstein has me in her bed and her line? What does she call me? Sweet smelling lady love."

"Okay so what you need to understand is. The important thing to remember here, right first of all that is an awful translation." It was quite a rare sight, Carmilla Karnstein sputtering and on the defensive.

"Oh and your better translation is?" Laura said, a Cheshire smile on her face.

"Well I, it's hard to put into English words. And what's wrong with sweet smelling? Back in those times that was a real compliment."

"Yes I see now, it's all so clear. I've fallen in love with a dork, a three hundred and fifty year old dork. Where did I go so wrong?" Laura said while adopting a tone of mock sadness.

Carmilla fixed her with a narrow eyed glare.

"Yes, very funny. Let us all laugh at the nice lady's attempts to praise her love. I don't suppose you have any lines to share of your own? Hotshot Lady Killer Hollis."

Laura caressed Carmilla's face softly before speaking.

"Well, I'm no seductress, but how about." She paused for a few seconds to think. "Got it, the line is. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. What do you think?"

Carmilla dropped the glare and bit her bottom lip appreciatively.

"Not bad actually," She raised her mouth to Laura's, arms reaching upwards and wrapping around Laura's head. "Not bad at all."

After a very nice long moment Laura spoke again.

"This was a great idea, I'm so glad you found this rusty bench behind a moustachioed pastry killer's stall."

Carmilla chuckled.

"Well, maybe I'm a three century year old dork, but I like to think I have my moments. In Florence we don't know what we're getting into, not really. I wanted us to have a moment alone, in case things get exciting for a while over there."

"Carm c'mon, it's going to be fine, this is pretty much a paid vacation. We meet with this guy Pisano, get this mask of doom and hand it over, simple. Maybe also make sure they destroy it like Okoye said they would. Also find out the answers to a bunch of questions we have. Oh, and hope that Pisano isn't super dangerous or that we're not being tricked or set up in anyway. Okay look that's actually quite a list but we handled Silas, we can handle this."

Carmilla sat up a bit and wrapped an arm around the back of Laura's shoulders, her face serious.

"I'm not saying we can't handle it, if the past year has taught me anything it's that I'd bet on us over almost anything. What I want is for us to not walk blindly into something we don't fully understand. If things get hairy I want us to be ready."

"Of course, I'm open remember? That includes my eyes, eyes wide open, nothing is going to get passed wily detective Laura Hollis while we are on this trip, wary like a fox. But it's going to be fine, we'll be fine, you'll see. This time tomorrow we'll be celebrating a job well done."

* * *

Meanwhile

The late evening flight from Graz Airport was not the only flying metal beast heading to Florence as night fell over Central and Southern Europe. Over the olive planted hills to the old city's north it came, its rotary wings beating ferociously yet also quietly compared to other machines of its ilk. It flew low to ground, olive trees swaying violently as it swept over them. As the city neared it pulled up slightly, gaining height as it flew over beautiful city squares full of architectural spectacles. As it reached the Arno River to the city's south it swung east and raced over arched bridges radiating warm yellow lights into the clear night sky.

Once passed the latest of these bridges it turned back north, over the great U-shaped Uffizi Gallery and finally slowing to a hover near a nest of yellow and orange buildings. Long thin ropes appeared from its sides like the intestines of a wounded animal, dropping down to the cobbled streets below. A man stepped out from the inside and grabbed one. His long unkempt hair blew wildly in the swirling air, dangerously so one might think with the spinning blades above him but if he felt any danger there he gave no external sign of it. He was very large, both tall and heavily built. His grip on the rope assured. With exaggerated swagger he turned his head back to the inside of the jet black helicopter.

"C'mon let's get down there already, what are you scrubs waiting for?"

He gripped the rope tightly in both hands and rappelled down. As he went he looked up for a second and got a glimpse of dark figures following him down and the giant red "C" emblazoned on the side of the helicopter's tail boom before he made it to the ground. A startled shout rang out at him from his right and he turned towards it.

A police officer accosted him in Italian, demanding to know who he was and what he was doing rappelling out of a helicopter in the middle of a city. The officer appeared to be alone in an otherwise deserted city street, the majority of Florence having gone to bed for the night. The large man strolled towards him and switched from the English he spoke in the helicopter to Italian.

"Forse possiamo lavorare su qualcosa." Perhaps we can work something out. In an outstretched hand he held out a great deal of Euros.

The officer became enraged rather than enticed and switched from demanding answers to demanding he acquiesce to an arrest.

He shrugged expansively and something black and metal appeared in his other hand. It made a quiet phut phut sound and the officer fell heavily to the ground. The man's eyes were bored and impassive when he spoke again.

"Mi dispiace che non era il caso." So sorry that was not the case. And back to English as he turned to the figures behind him.

"Alright enough fun and games, it's time to get this shit show started."


	5. Chapter 5: Carmilla

Sometimes it could be difficult to discern exactly whose hand belonged to who after long periods of them intertwining. The short trip from Graz to Florence was one of those times. They would do it so sub-consciously that it were almost as if their hands had a romantic storyline of their own going on, unbeknownst to their owners. Had they fallen in love despite their immense differences as well? Suffered heartbreak and eventual reunion in the face of apocalyptic danger? Perhaps she'd ask them at some point, they were her hands, surely they would have to tell her.

Other than whatever their hands were saying to themselves they sat in contented silence for most of the hour long trip. Carmilla enjoyed the fact they could have those from time to time, she intended on spending a quite large percentage of the human life available to her with Laura and not even the great talker Laura Hollis herself could fill all of it with idle chat. Letting her right hand take care of the communicating she instead looked out at the stars.

She also used the time to think on their current situation.

She didn't trust Okoye, hell even Laura wasn't buying into everything she had said. They would have to be on their guard. She'd believed Okoye in regards to the Sarratum being in Florence, the failed auction, the thief Pisano. It all seemed legitimate, besides once they had gained an internet connection Laura immediately confirmed that a person claiming to be named Pisano had indeed contacted them through her latest video. No, most of what Okoye had said was probably true, it was the last part Carmilla found herself doubting.

Whoever she worked for CIA, MI6, NSA she didn't keep up with all the ridiculous acronyms, Carmilla knew their styles regardless and none of them included giving up anything that would gain them power. Okoye had said she would destroy the Sarratum but if they had even an inkling of its power could she be trusted to carry that promise through? Before they had boarded the plane she'd brought up to Laura the possible scenario of having to destroy it themselves. Laura had looked grave at that, her exact nature may be unknown to them but Okoye clearly represented dangerous people who knew a great deal about them. Laura ultimately had agreed however, like Carmilla knew she would. Danger involved or not the young woman had never chosen a safer option over a morally right one yet.

At that thought she looked over at Laura, who lay slumped in her chair with her eyes closed half asleep. Her left hand clearly on as much autopilot as Carmilla's right. She had brought Laura into this, whatever this would turn out to be. The onus was on her to make sure things went smoothly, to stay one step ahead of any possible danger, to keep Laura safe. She knew Laura would be irritated by that line of thinking but it wasn't something she could help. Even now, months later every once and awhile her dreams would turn to the nightmare of those few minutes after Laura had died. Such a short time, immediately followed by the sheer joy of Laura's return but even for someone who had spent decades in a coffin buried underground she considered those few minutes the worst of her existence. She would never let that happen again, no matter what.

The plane began its descent as announced by the pilot over the PA and a stewardess coming over to ask them to buckle up.

"You know we don't usually have flights just from Graz to Florence, I think there must be someone special on the plane, maybe someone political or famous perhaps? Whatever it is, you guys really picked a great time to go." The uniformed lady whispered conspiratorially to them.

"Good timing I guess." Carmilla said, which she followed up with a amicable wink. Though inwardly she cursed at the implication of the power Okoye's people held. She really hoped Okoye was genuine in her desire to destroy the Sarratum.

Because destroyed it must be. Her Mother's toys were fun only to the person playing with them. She had thought herself rid of Mother's web of deception and suffering and bullshit forever but apparently some strands remained, still just as sticky despite no longer being a part of some grand design. It would all have to go, all be destroyed if she were to be free. She doubted she had ever felt happiness so complete as her last few months at that old cottage with Laura. She wouldn't let her Mother cast a shadow over that, whether it was from her physically or from a piece of her damned legacy.

She looked upwards. Was that were these Ancient Gods lay or should she look down?

I don't care if you're supposed to be a changed being now, I'll never forgive you for what you have done to me and if I have to burn everything you've touched I'll do it to make sure I never have to even think of you again.

The contented silence gave way to a sense of tension as the plane landed. Carmilla felt Laura wake back up and they both steeled themselves for what lay ahead. As they and the rest of the passengers exited Okoye stood waiting for them on the runway. Same suit, same tablet, same damn smug smile.

"I am so glad you decided to come, really. It is actually rather inefficient for a plane to only go from Graz to Florence so we had to bribe the airline a fair amount. It would have been a shame for that to go to waste for nothing."

Carmilla gave her a sarcastic smile as she and Laura came up to her. This time Okoye wasn't alone, two men in suits as immaculate as hers flanked her. She turned to them.

"Ok you two can get their luggage." Then back to Laura and Carmilla. "Let's go for a walk. There is a hotel we have set you up in for the night. Very cosy like a cottage even, you'll love it. Do not worry the heavies can take your suitcases. They aren't good for much else right now it is not like we are going to be attacked by anything." She laughed, carefree but to Carmilla still vaguely unsettling.

They set off, Okoye in the lead with Laura and Carmilla following uneasily, the heavies with their suitcases trailing behind. Okoye continued speaking.

"Right, so as you probably saw for yourself when you looked at your last Silas video the meet up is at the Mercato Delle Pulci. Basically a small flea market a little north from the Ponte Vecchio, that's a bridge by the way." She looked at Laura as she said this. Did she do that because she specifically knew Carmilla had been here twice before or did she expect someone over three centuries old to be well travelled just generally?

Laura nodded confidently. "I know I've been studying some Florentine maps pretty closely. I noticed the Mercato Delle Puci is pretty low-key and out of the way. Open though, lots of exits. Perfect place for an anxious thief to set up a meeting don't you think?"

Carmilla grinned inwardly. She loved it when Laura proved people who underestimated her wrong. Even in little things like this. She's not an idiot who doesn't know what's going on around her or can't think for herself you smug Hündin. A flash of irritation crossed Okoye's face before she could catch it.

"Yes well thought out. Pisano isn't what I would consider intelligent but he does have some degree of cunning, street smarts if you will. Now once we get to the hotel I think we shall part ways, I would rather not spend too much time together in case Pisano gets eyes on you. He might be suspicious if you have people he doesn't recognise around you. He must know that he's a hunted man. You seem like you have things pretty well considered so I'm sure you can find the Mercato Delle Puci yourselves?"

She got an affirmative from them both.

"They'll be a number of my people at the meet in clandestine. One of them will contact you discreetly once you get to the market. The last thing for us to decide then is what you want to do in the meantime. The meeting as you would have seen is set for early evening tomorrow. That's almost twenty hours away."

Laura hesitated for a second, before in a quiet voice. "Well can't we spend that time exploring the city?"

Okoye laughed.

"Hah! Fantastic idea, it's perfect. You simply wander the city like tourists. If Pisano spots you all it will look like is that you're treating the whole thing as a vacation. To him, your plan is to enjoy the city, then buy the mask off him and then continue enjoying yourselves afterwards. Nothing suspicious at all puts him at ease, you really have knack for this sort of thing Ms Hollis good thinking."

Laura went slightly red and her eyes shifted left and right.

"Yeah… yeah that's exactly what I meant. Just thinking about the mission that you're paying us a bazillion, uh, an amount of money that is exactly adequate and acceptable for us to do. Yep, thought up that plan on the way here."

They reached the hotel, a smallish but classy looking white building after a short trip on a shuttle bus. The two silent heavies handed them their suitcases and went back to flanking Okoye. She bade them farewell at the front desk after she spoke some perfectly enunciated Italian to the clerk. A few minutes later they found themselves in a lavish penthouse suite alone.

After some quick exploration of their suite they ended up luxuriating on a very large bed so comfortable it reminded Carmilla of her bed in the old Karnstein Castle. They talked idly, joked around, reaffirmed their plans for tomorrow and made love under expensive silk sheets. They slept soundly during the night. In the morning Carmilla would have the chance to show her love a brand new city.

* * *

Carmilla watched on as the entirety of Florence fell in love with her girlfriend one by one. For a time greater than even the longest human life her primary vocation was seduction, bringing young people to Mother via them falling for her charms. Yet despite all those years of experience Carmilla doubted that even she could have so many people fawning over her as quickly as the awkward, clumsy woman sporting a decade old Princess Bride themed backpack and a front pouch before her. She wore the backpack and the pouch over a white tank top and pants, she cited that Florence was in the middle of a heatwave for her decision. Carmilla, weather be damned, stuck with the black leather pants and jacket theme that had always suited her well enough.

The woman at the ice-cream stand gave Laura an extra scoop on her cone, a street musician switched smoothly from a ditty about a football team to a love song as she crossed his eye line, a young couple's Golden Retriever pulled hard on its leash in an effort to get near her and received a scratch behind the ear and kiss to its nose for its trouble. With Carmilla in tow, Laura seemed to skip from one random sweet encounter with a stranger to the next. Never been the easiest person to get along with my ass she thought as Laura asked an elderly lady for directions to the next landmark. The lady did not only give Laura directions but handed her a local map that she assured them was 'better than any official tripe that they may have been given.' This was not a unique occurrence. People often wanted to give her things, to see her smile. Carmilla wasn't going to blame them for that, she understood the desire perfectly.

The next of these sweet encounters with complete strangers occurred when Carmilla made a ribald joke while they examined the Fountain of Neptune, a beautiful sculpture of a naked man standing tall over a coterie of sea horses and merry satyrs. Laura laughed so hard she lost track of herself and backed into a young woman carrying a tray full of cups of coffee. The tray went flying and the coffee spilled all over the woman's elegant looking shirt. Laura didn't speak her language, had physically bumped into her carelessly, stained if not ruined an expensive looking shirt and yet within a few minutes of Laura's profuse apologies she began tapping on her phone in an attempt, as Carmilla realized with a thrill of horror, to find the English words for "Can I have your number?"

Well that was quite enough of that. Carmilla stepped forward, mouth smiling but eyes very much doing the opposite and cast an arm around Laura's back. In Italian she echoed Laura's apologies and said she and her girlfriend would pay for any damages. Getting the hint, the young woman quickly made an exit but still threw a final intrepid smile Laura's way before shuffling away from Carmilla as fast as she could. That's right, back of the line Carmilla couldn't help but think to herself as she watched the woman leave. Apparently the transformation from vampire to human did not cure oneself of the odd possessive thought, she mused.

She knew how Laura was doing it, why these people of all ages seemed to fall under her spell. It was quite simple, everything she did was genuine. She was genuinely thankful for an extra scoop of ice-cream, genuinely happy to scratch a dog behind the ears, genuinely sorry for spilling coffee on a bystander. In world full of deception and ill intentions Laura stood out from the crowd and whether they be a three century year old ex-vampire jaded from her horrific experiences or a regular human being going about their run of the mill day they would always be drawn to someone like her, someone who genuinely cared.

It wasn't that she was some kind of flawless being. Carmilla had intimate knowledge now of the many aspects of Laura Hollis. As well as the empathy and kindness not to mention a great deal of courage she had also witnessed the bouts of self-righteousness, the tunnel vision and the ever present threat of crippling self-doubt. After their now old conflict over her belief Laura had mythologized Carmilla as a perfect hero she had no desire to hypocritically do the same to Laura. The faults were a part of who she was like Carmilla's past would always be a part of her. But in times like these she wondered whether Laura's faults really were indeed faults or merely side effects of what made Laura the woman she loved so dearly.

Any further musings were cut off when she was enveloped in what she had started referring to in her own mind as the monkey hug, a Laura Hollis special in which she almost seemed to be climbing the person she was hugging. Perhaps Laura had noticed her irritation at their latest encounter, though she rarely needed a reason to spontaneously hug her.

"Thank you so much Carm, this place is amazing. It's like someone put me in the pages of a fantasy book, it doesn't seem real." Laura looked around at their surroundings as she said it, trying to take as much in as possible.

It helped that it was such a beautiful day, the sun shining over clear skies. It gave the whole city a shiny gloss. Their experience with Florence that day had been one of warm coloured buildings, cobblestone and endless statues and other sculptures around every corner. They had moved from square to square, piazza to piazza while savouring every sight. Carmilla had been to Florence before on a couple of occasions but this was a first with human eyes. While she could no longer spot and track a bird from miles away or read a street sign from another piazza what she could see took her breath away. Every colour seemed to stick out to her, bright and vibrant. At first the brightness was almost overwhelming and Laura, concerned, had asked her if she wanted sunglasses. She declined immediately. She didn't want any filter, any barrier between the world and her eyes today.

But despite the wonder and the beauty of the city she could not help but keep bringing her eyes back to Laura. She knew it made her sound like some second rate hack author of a romance novel or insipid poem but to her Laura seemed to positively glow in the Florentine sun, a golden statue come to life. Matska had once commented that she belonged to the night as it was then that her pale skin would shine like a moon walking the earth. If that was so, then Laura could be nothing else but an emissary from the sun. No wonder two Gods had ultimately come to favour her.

Carmilla laughed at herself while watching Laura go off to pet another dog begging for her attention. Golden statue come to life, emissary from the sun, words of a lovesick teenager with a head full of poetry. Perhaps she hadn't aged a day since her death at eighteen mentally as well as physically. Laura had turned back the clock on her, the centuries of horror never gone but now bearable, like a story from a book she could now close. It was all she could do to not break out the sappiest love poems and quotes she had locked in her brain while she was with Laura at the cottage.

With the dog well and truly petted out Laura came trotting back to her, a golden smile on her face.

"You know you could always pet them as well, you would like it more than you think."

"More of a cat person really."

"Of course you are." Laura snorted and then sighed. "Well I think we've had as much fun as we have time for, it's almost evening, better head for the flea market. Love to see the Ponte Vecchio on the way there."

Carmilla took a deep breath and cracked her neck by moving her head side to side. She gave a nod to Laura.

"Let's get this done."

* * *

The sun had begun its slow descent as they crossed the Ponte Vecchio towards the Mercato Delle Puci. Literally meaning 'old bridge' the Vecchio lived up to its name, like in times of old it still had shops built along it. They walked by jewellers, souvenir stands, Laura looked longingly at a gold ring affixed with a shining pearl but Carmilla pressed her on. The time for fun and games over for now.

After crossing the Arno it wasn't much further until they reached the flea market. It was organized inside an open air square structure, its entrances large archways along all sides of it. Roads busy with traffic lay around it. Passed the archways and flashing cars Carmilla could see people milling about cheap wooden stalls filled with all kinds of worthless crap she wouldn't pay a single solitary thaler for.

"That's it, the Mercato Delle Puci, flea market. Absolutely the worst place we've seen on this trip."

"C'mon, it's not that bad, who knows maybe we'll see something not demonically horrible that we can buy while we're doing this."

Carmilla grunted at that doubtfully. As a break in traffic allowed them forward they each gave the other a squeeze and made to enter one of the centre arches into the market. As they reached the archway however a small whistle came at them from their left.

The whistle came from a man leaning his back against the yellow painted structure while apparently reading a newspaper. He was solidly built, a soldier type, though currently garbed casually. Long black hair that seemed neither washed nor brushed in a long time fell around his shoulders. Over the newspaper pale hazel eyes smiled at them.

"Well well, our heroes have arrived. Thought we'd have to go look for you if you'd taken much longer, undercover as regular tourists working out for you two?"

He didn't let them answer and continued on.

"Back of the market on the right hand side from where you're standing there is a coffee stand that sells brown shit in liquid form to these losers. Next to it is some chairs and tables. He's been sitting there for about twenty minutes. You can't miss him he's the guy who looks like a criminal. Probably should have gone in and taken him ourselves but the lady wanted us to try it the nice way." With that he picked up a briefcase on the ground next to him and handed it to Laura.

"Give him this briefcase full of cash, get the mask and then return to me here, Simple as pie." His eyes smiled but his tone was mocking. He mostly looked at her, the hazel smiling eyes having yet to blink even once. Everything about him radiated danger. Yeah she did not like this one at all.

Laura was off put as well. She took the briefcase warily.

"Sure yeah, that's the plan. We'll just go and do that then."

She nodded to Carmilla and they made to enter again.

"Don't worry," The man said as they did so. "We'll be with you one hundred per cent of the way." The mocking tone at odds with the words.

"Don't like this." Laura muttered to her as they moved through the myriad of stalls. There were so many and so densely packed that it was difficult to see very far ahead at all.

"I know me neither, but if we leave now we'll never be able to make sure the mask is destroyed. Stay close to me Cupcake, okay?"

She hadn't meant to call her that. She swallowed to get her nerves under control. The air full of tension now. She cursed herself for not thinking of a way to sneak her throwing knife through Graz Airport's security. A weapon would have felt quite comforting right now.

They stuck to the right side of the market and eventually the stalls cleared. In front of them lay a small coffee stand of apparently ill repute and cheap plastic chairs around circular tables. Only one person was using them. He sat in the back corner, twitching this way and that to watch his blind spots behind him. He had a very dirty look about him, his clothes, his hair, clear sweat stains around his armpits. Carmilla could read his appearance and body language easily. Here was a man who felt hunted.

He saw them enter and bade them over profusely, beckoning them wildly with his hand. His small eyes darting all around him, though they came back to the briefcase in Laura's hands quite a bit, as they sat down he spoke. High pitched and hoarse, as if he hadn't drank anything for a while.

"Thank Dio, Grazie a Dio. You're here, both of you. I was worried, I mean I wasn't worried I saw you walking around the streets earlier so I knew you were here. But maybe you were here for something else? Or you maybe you wouldn't find this place or maybe… I dunno I'm just glad you got here. Right on time as well! I was worried for nothing! Not worried, as I said I saw you,-"

"Okay flaky McFlakington calm down yeah we're here. So let's do this already. Where is the mask?"

Carmilla didn't care for any bullshit right now, she wanted this over with and to get out of this market.

Pisano stared at her as if she was crazy.

"Are you kidding me lady? I didn't bring it with me. You hand me the cash and I tell you were I put it."

Carmilla grinned at him dangerously, a growl growing in her throat.

"Yeah that sounds like a great idea, I'll hand you the cash and you'll verbally tell me where the mask is before leaving. I happen to be a huge moron so let's go with that plan." Her eyes narrowed like weapons locking onto a target.

Pisano gulped visibly. Clearly he knew there was little chance of that plan getting any headway but was hoping it might regardless.

"Okay, fair yeah fair. You show me the cash and I'll take you to it. Then you give me the cash yeah? I can tell you where we're going if that helps?"

Better. "Sure that sounds like a less dumb plan and we'd love to know where we're going."

"The Uffizi Gallery." Pisano grinned as he said this.

Carmilla and Laura stared back at him blankly for a moment.

"Pretty clever yeah? Nobody thinks to look for stolen artefacts in a place where a bunch of legitimate ones are displayed for everyone to see. It's on the second floor. I can tell you that before you give me the cash, you see, as you'll never be able to get to where it is on that floor without me, it's well hidden." Pisano seemed very pleased with himself about this.

"A good thing then we agreed that you would stick around to show us before we gave you the money and let you leave." Carmilla said sweetly.

Pisano blanched, more sweat dripping down his short hair.

"Oh, well yes I mean I could have given you clear instructions but, I yeah I… lets go get your mask shall we?"

Laura slapped her hand on the table in clearly her best impression of someone may have worked better without the Princess Bride backpack.

"Not yet, first we have some questions."

Pisano sniffed at her indifferently. "Well I mean you're paying me for the mask, I don't see how questions are part of the deal. Really we should be going."

Carmilla leaned forward languidly, predator smile still on her face.

"Indulge us."

Pisano blanched and gulped yet again and nodded at great speed to each of them.

"Right," Laura said. Oh how Carmilla knew she loved this part, the part where she started getting answers in her mystery solving. "So to start with how do you know about the mask?"

Pisano blinked.

"Well to be honest with you I didn't until about a fortnight ago."

Laura gave him a quizzical look.

"What? How did you find out about that as well as its connection to Carmilla a fortnight ago, did you get a hold of my videos then? And how did you get a hold of my videos?"

Pisano looked lost at those questions.

"Videos? What videos? You have videos? Look it's pretty simple, Bambola. A fortnight ago I get an email from an anonymous source saying that a big score is available on this blue and gold mask a guy in Florence is about to auction off. If I steal it, which was easy as can be by the way, that source would set up a meet today at this flea market. Then I get paid. An attachment in the email included a photo of you both so I would know what you looked hard part has been waiting for this meet, there have been people looking for me I'm sure. This mask must be super valuable to somebody that's for damn certain. Wait, shouldn't you already know about all this? Aren't you with the people who gave me the instructions in the first place?" He started twitching more violently.

Carmilla did not care much for these reveals at all. She turned to Laura to say as much but Pisano stood up stiffly, staring intently over their shoulders. Laura and Carmilla turned to see what he was looking at.

It was another solidly built man like the previous one they talked to at the central archway, though perhaps not quite as large. He had bumped into one of the stalls, sending the cheap metal cutlery it was selling flying. The man tried his best to look inconspicuous but failed utterly. He cast a few anxious glances over at their table.

Pisano looked to them, shaking violently now.

"You're setting me up. You're with those people after me."

"Giuseppe calm down, its fine you can still get your money, nobody here wants to hurt you." Laura said.

"Screw you Stronzi!" He yelled at them both and pushed a hand into his pocket.

Then his face detonated.

Blood and bone burst outwards from where his head used to be and Carmilla dimly heard a loud crack from behind them. Instinctively she barrelled into Laura, pushing her to the ground as the world around them exploded with gunfire.


	6. Chapter 6: Carmilla

No filters, no barriers for her eyes today she had wanted. Well you get what you ask for she supposed, a fantastic view of a man's head and face disappearing into a cloud of red mist. Pisano, sans head, lay in front of them very much dead. The noise was almost deafening, gunfire whipping all around them, panicked market goers ran in all directions, towards the archways closest to them in a bid for safety. The Mercato Delle Puci was definitely not the place to be right now.

Carmilla desperately covered as much as Laura's body as she could despite the logical part of her brain telling her the act was, in practical terms, meaningless. Bullets had a tendency of going through things, exhibit A: Pisano over there. Luckily the mess of stalls and running people seemed to be making it difficult for their attackers to get a good shot at them but she knew that would not be the state of affairs forever, she had to get them out of here and fast. She remembered the coffee stand, small and shoddily built it could give them some visual cover at least. Shaking Laura gently she told her.

"We're going to get up and get behind the stand okay, you're going to get up with me and we're getting there together, okay? Let's go."

She felt rather than heard Laura give her an affirmative, Laura wasn't a person comfortable with violence but Carmilla had seen in the past that she didn't freeze up in the face of it. At being told what was happening she immediately followed Carmilla's instructions. They got up together, ran together and made it together to the other side of the coffee stand. Step one complete. What was next?

The market was quickly emptying and the gunmen, however many there were likely to be charging through the stalls as fast as they could. Their chances of escape were lowering by the second. Carmilla looked around her, including a peek around the left side of the stand and received the sensation of a bullet whizzing past her face in response. Finally she spotted something useful, right behind them was one of the many archway exits and behind that something she hoped would help them get out of here. But how to get there without being torn to shreds?

She noticed Laura's backpack, the faded decade old image of Princess Buttercup on its back looking even worse for wear than it had before. She started pulling it off Laura's back.

"Need to borrow this for a second."

"What? why?"

Once it was off her back Carmilla threw it to their right. Immediately a large number of bullets slammed into it, ripping the backpack into tiny pieces in mid air.

"Buttercup! No!" Laura cried.

"Don't worry Laura she's only mostly dead."

Plan now fully formed in her mind she pointed to Laura's front pouch.

"Ok, now your fanny pack."

"Excuse me, my what?"

"Your stupid ass pouch, Laura!"

"Oh." Laura quickly opened the pouch and pulled out the new cell phone and pocketing it. She gave the pouch to Carmilla, who readied to throw it to their left.

"Okay as soon as I throw this we run straight behind us through the archway, you stay with me. Now!"

She threw the pouch and charged with Laura towards the archway, she heard shots destroy the pouch as thoroughly as they did the backpack. They reached the archway and passed through it.

And immediately bumped into another gunman to her left.

He obviously was looking to flank them, either getting a shot at them from the other side of the coffee stand or merely cutting off their escape. Luckily he seemed as surprised to physically bump into her as she. Clearly he hadn't thought they'd have reached the archway yet.

She crashed into his weapon, knocking it sideways and when he fired it the bullets shot harmlessly into open air. She reacted first, instinctively going for the throat like in times of old. Luckily she had the wherewithal to not try to use her now non-existent fangs. She wished she had found a way to bring her throwing knife from the cottage but airport security had gotten tougher since she last flew. Her hands would have to do.

Piston like blows crunched into his jugular and he fell wheezing. She would have done more but at that moment Laura flashed passed her and delivered a hard kick to his side as he hit the ground. Laura looked to her, eyes like a puppy looking for praise for its latest deed.

"Right?"

"Yeah good one." Carmilla agreed. "But come on we have to go."

As they started running Laura started complaining.

"My backpack, poor Buttercup, my pouch, what will I have to take my top off for the next distraction?"

"One can only live in hope."

Ahead of them lay what Carmilla hoped would be their salvation. Left unattended on the side of the road, its rider and passengers most likely fleeing on foot, laid a horse carriage. It was small, drawn by one horse, a jet black stallion that seemed utterly unaware that anything too interesting was going on at all.

Carmilla quickly unhooked it from the luxurious looking carriage and climbed up its side to mount it. She took the reins in one hand and held out another for Laura.

"A horse? We're taking a horse to get out of here?" Laura said as she took Carmilla's hand and clambered onto the horses back behind her.

"Don't worry it's only been a couple of centuries since I last rode. You know before they made bikes the saying was 'just like riding a horse'."

"Is that true?"

"Yeah sure, probably."

Carmilla set the horse charging as fast as she could encourage it down the road and away from the market, hooves thundering on the hard cobblestone. Behind her she heard more gunfire and now angry shouts as the gunmen appeared to realize their impending equestrian escape.

Despite the situation she couldn't help a smile, savouring the feel of the wind whipping past and the sense of speed the stallion gave her. Above them a black low flying helicopter flew past, a news helicopter quick on the scene? Perhaps some kind of emergency services? She shook the question from her mind as the road ahead of them was suddenly filled with traffic.

Like most roads in Florence this one was small and once away from the square market it became cramped between squashed together buildings on both sides. Carmilla slowed the horse to better control it through the slow moving traffic. Drivers cursed at her through windscreens as she maneuvered the stallion between and around their cars. She ignored them and kept going. She was about to shout back when one driver yelled some appalling Italian terms at her when Laura shook her shoulder and pointed forwards.

"Carm, look!"

Ahead of them a car screeched around a corner to their left and drove down the road in their direction. It had some ways to go before reaching them but Carmilla could see what Laura had seen, out of the passenger side another stocky soldier type hung out the window with a very lethal looking gun. Its muzzle flashed and bullets were suddenly zipping around them. There were cars in front of them in both directions however and like in the market it was difficult to get a clear shot.

Although also like in the market that wouldn't be the case for long. She considered turning the horse back. No the car was faster it would catch up eventually. She needed a weapon.

Her eyes found a flag pole sticking out of a building on their side of the road, Italian flag on its end waving in the wind. It would have to do.

"The flag pole coming out of that building, I need you to grab it as we go past."

Laura didn't question her, though some part of her must have thought her mad. As they passed the flag pole Laura stuck out her arm, gripped it hard and pulled. It thankfully came loose and Laura now had it in her possession. Weapon gained.

But it couldn't be used yet, she needed to get closer. The gunman in the car did not. He only needed a clear shot. But he was finding that difficult as panicked drivers drove erratically on the cramped road as they tried to escape the action movie they had suddenly found themselves to be extras in. As the car raced down the right side of the road, Carmilla used a white van driving up the left for cover. She heard a few shots hit the van as the gunman got impatient. She bided her time. Just a bit closer. An almost serene moment passed as the distance closed bit by bit.

Finally she made her move. Pulling back on the reigns, she slowed the horse to let the van speed on ahead, moved around behind it and charged to their right at the car.

"Aim the pole at the man with the gun." She yelled to Laura and hoped she understood.

And with that they charged a man with an automatic rifle travelling shotgun in a modern day automobile like a jousting knight of old. With the van now ahead of them the gunman finally had a clean shot. But so did Laura. She thrust the flag pole forwards hard into the gunman, the speed of the charging horse turning the pole into an impromptu jousting lance. The point took the gunman in the chest and smashed him back against the side of the car. He fell forwards and out of the vehicle. The force of the blow jolted the flag pole out of Laura's grip and it fell to the ground next to the crumpled figure of the gunman.

"Did we just beat a gun with a flag pole?" Laura asked in clear wonder of how they were still alive.

Carmilla found an alleyway to their left and took it. Unfortunately the years since she had last been in Florence had eaten away at her memory of the city's layout and soon she became lost as the stallion whisked them through countless tight and twisty paths. Eventually they found themselves back on a road with the Arno River to their right and the Ponte Vecchio, where they had come from to begin with up ahead. Another screech of burning tires behind them announced that their pursuant car had found them again. Now apparently alone in the vehicle, the driver had one hand on the wheel and a pistol firing at them with the other.

"The bridge! Take a right up ahead to the bridge. It will be packed. No way could they follow us in a car!" Laura yelled at her.

Carmilla agreed and took the horse right. Back onto the bridge they went. As expected Laura was correct and the bridge was brimming with panicked people. The crowd so thick that Carmilla couldn't get the horse through much of it, never mind a car. Safe for the moment yes, but regretfully, they would have to abandon the black stallion.

Carmilla patted it on the head affectionately after they dismounted.

"You did all right." She said.

Laura was more effusive. She hugged its neck and gave it a peck on the cheek.

"You were amazing, thank you."

The stallion took the praise in its stride, like it had taken everything that had happened in the past quarter of an hour. It whinnied appreciatively at Laura and trotted off without a care in the world.

They cut through the crowd as fast as they could, police sirens could be easily heard now and while the crowd was moving away from the market Carmilla spotted a number of officers heading in the opposite direction. The black helicopter flew by them again, darting over the bridge and began slowly circling like a shark around a seal. About halfway down the bridge she remembered something.

"Wait a second, stay right here. This will only take a second or two. Watch the crowd for the arschgesichts. I'll be right back."

"Wha- why? where are you? Uhh Okay." Laura said back. She then tried as hard as she could to win a game of 'Where's Waldo with a Gun.'

Carmilla ducked into one of the jewellery stores, other than her it was empty. It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for. She grabbed it and came running back.

"Right now we can go."

"Where did you go? What happened?"

"Never mind, something for later. Let's keep moving."

Thankfully without any further incident or any sign of their pursuers, they eventually got through to the end of the bridge and into the streets, the extra room allowing them to move at a much greater pace. The only problem being they didn't know where to go.

* * *

"We can't go back to the hotel. I don't think we're safe there." Laura said, airing both of their thoughts aloud.

Without any better ideas they continued moving away from the Mercato Delle Puci. Suddenly the friendly people of Florence that had played starring roles in many a sweet encounter earlier that day were unknown, intimidating, and potentially a threat. They huddled together as they walked, both trying to get their racing hearts back under control from the adrenaline high of a truly heart pounding escape. As always the physical contact helped the most, their hands doing some serious emergency intertwining.

Eventually Carmilla found them a deserted alleyway to rest in. But when Laura held a hand against one of the alleyway walls to steady herself Carmilla threw herself upon her, kissing her and driving her back against it. It wasn't a conscious decision, the logical part of her brain screamed against it, that now was absolutely not the time for this. That part must have been in the backseat of her brain and some other part doing the driving. She poured every bit of the leftover adrenaline into the kiss, lending it a desperate intensity and after a few moments, Laura began sighing happily and bringing hands up around Carmilla's face before Carmilla finally broke it. She gently held Laura against her and their foreheads came together.

"Sorry, I know this is not the time. I just really needed to do that. You're okay right? Nothing hit you? Nothing hurt?"

Laura smiled at her, warm and kind despite the day this was turning out to be.

"I'm okay, nothing's wrong with me. Thanks to you, you were amazing. Look at you. Ellen Ripley and Buffy have nothing on you Action Hero."

Carmilla grinned back.

"Not so bad yourself, I've seen some jousts in my day but I think you'd have beaten all those knights fighting over who gets to give the prettiest girl a rose."

"Well unfortunately I don't have a rose to give you so…"

Okay she could admit it, maybe that was a slightly smoother line than Irinini Arammu.

She held her for a few minutes, enough for them both to catch their breath.

"The Uffizi, that's where we have to be headed, Pisano said it was there. We have to get it before they do. We know more than them right now, we can use that. Get it before they catch up."

"But how do we make it there in a city that's full of people trying to kill us?"

A new voice rang out from the other side of the alleyway.

"Yes that is a good question, I fear that may end up being quite the difficult task for the pair of you. I must thank you, though, Countess Karnstein for telling me where the Sarratum is. The Uffizi Gallery! Who would have thought? And here I was thinking we had cocked this whole thing up."

Bolade Okoye stood before them, the suit, the smile, but instead of the tablet. A gun.


	7. Chapter 7: Carmilla

Her instinct, as always, was to move in front of Laura to face the brunt of whatever danger of the hour was confronting them. But this time as she did so Laura pushed forward as well, staying beside Carmilla instead of behind her, an angry pointing finger shaking at Okoye and her gun.

"What, do you just creepily appear in places? How did you get here? How did you find us? Also, hey lying traitorous liar woman who totally has been lying to us this whole time! What the hell? I thought you were supposed to be some kind of good guy spy. You know, like a bald black lady James Bond. Instead you're a lying traitor douche nozzle, Alec Trevelyan type."

Okoye simply raised her eyebrows at this tirade levelled at her.

"Yes quite the verbal attack,how could I ever recover from such a storm of righteousness peppered with pop cultural references. Though I should probably release you from this misapprehension you seem to be under. What I said was, 'there are many people who know about you including many in the intelligence sector'. I never said I worked for one."

"You did say you were working for people trying to make the world a better place." Carmilla said.

"And we are. We just have different ideas on what constitutes better than perhaps the mainstream does. For us, better is whatever our primary shareholders and the board says it is."

"You're a corpor- Corvae!" Laura yelled out the final word as she came to her conclusion.

"Got it in one Ms Hollis well done very sharp, well perhaps not, it would have been better for you to have worked it out earlier I suppose. We're not the bad guys here really, as a corporation well acquainted with magical artifacts the Sarratum would be safest in our hands. Besides, Inanna was with us for such a long time. Why not pass on her former earthly possessions to those she worked so closely with for centuries?"

"One might argue her possessions should belong to her surviving family." Carmilla said.

"Sure, one could. If you get out of this alive perhaps you should take the issue up with the courts. Good luck with that though, we have good lawyers."

God she really hated this woman, smooth to the point of smugness. Wiping that smile of her face would feel real good right now. Carmilla wondered how much Laura would object to her killing Okoye at this very moment. Hopefully not too much, maybe she could turn her back and look the other way?

But for now Okoye had them pretty well covered with her pistol. The alleyway gave them no room to move sideways and there was nothing that could give them cover between her and them, only discarded newspapers and other trash. Behind Okoye the alleyway split off to the left and a yellow bricked dead end lay straight ahead. She must have come around the corner to the left while they were talking.

"The Uffizi Gallery is a large place to search for one mask, especially as we are trying to keep this reasonably discreet, despite certain mistakes on the parts of others." She spat the last word out in anger, but it seemed to Carmilla that it wasn't anger towards them. "I am sure Pisano told you more. Play nice and share won't you? Corvae is not too pleased with the pair of you but the Sarratum is our priority."

"Not too pleased with us? Are you serious?" Laura had gone into full indignation mode. "You do remember from those videos you intruded on that we saved the world from your 'colleague' Inanna right? She was playing all of you the whole time. She didn't care about your dumb corporation. If it wasn't for us you would all be dead, because Inanna was going to destroy the world. That includes Corvae because, you know, it's the **World!** "

"Well thanks for that, but what have you done for us lately?"

Yep, sooner or later she was going to kill this woman.

"Also, in saving the world we kind of tangled with and got the better of not one but two Ancient Gods. So if you think we are going to let some dumb corporation-"

"Oh please, it's the twenty first century dear. You know what the only difference between a corporation and God is? You can't beat a corporation with a hug."

"Now let us be clear. There is no reason for you both to die. This mask is not worth your lives. The lives you have fought so hard for. You want gratitude for saving the world? Fine, tell me exactly where the Sarratum is and I will let you go. That is my way of showing gratitude. Otherwise I am afraid things are going to have to go very badly for both of you. Now I think one of you is going to have to decide what is more important to them. A dusty old mask or the woman they love?"

Okoye levelled the pistol at Carmilla's face. Laura gasped beside her and even without her vampiric senses she thought she could hear Laura's heart start pounding a mile a minute. Laura wouldn't hold out, she knew it. If the positions were reversed she knew she couldn't.

"Carm, I'm so sorry. Okay, okay Okoye you win."

But Carmilla had noticed something about Okoye as she aimed the gun at her. First of all she clearly wasn't comfortable with the weapon. She held it clumsily, like a piece of garbage one tried to keep away from their nose while they put in the trash. Despite her cool and smooth demeanour, sweat trickled slowly down her bald head. Lastly, almost imperceptibly her hand shook.

"Good. That's good Ms Hollis, nobody has to die for this, you're making the right decision. Just tell me- Gustav No!"

Her gaze shifted behind them and her eyes widened at what she saw. Her free hand started waving erratically in a clear gesture of Stop! The pistol aimed Carmilla's head momentarily forgotten and dropped to her side.

Carmilla turned on the spot. Behind them the man they had talked to at the archway advanced upon them. A rifle held in his hands. Making a split second decision she turned back around and rushed Okoye. She barrelled into Okoye around the midriff and tackled her to the ground. Okoye hit the hard cobblestone with an oomph! And lay still, stunned. She looked back down the alleyway. The man was still advancing, rifle now held up to his eyes to aim. They only had to get around the left corner and they'd have a good chance of escaping. But she would need a moment to get back to her feet and the man had the gun aimed at them now.

But instead of shooting he looked directly into her eyes, winked at her and swung the gun towards Laura.

"Laura, Run!" She yelled out.

But of course Laura wasn't going to do that. Instead she remained at her side, trying to wrench her up to her feet. Staying together. Carmilla did the only thing she could think of, she wrapped her hands around Laura and half pushed half threw Laura bodily around the corner. She tried to get up and moving herself, but she knew she wasn't going to make it. The man had had an age to aim and she was the easiest target you could ask for.

The time it took to get up and move around the corner couldn't have been more than a few seconds but they went in slow motion, expecting bullets to start pounding into her back at any moment. But as she finally got around it she realized none had come. The man hadn't fired at her at all.

Pushing the questions she had to the back of her mind she dragged a still somewhat dazed after her short trip through the air Laura back to her feet.

"Ow, I love you honey but that's the second time you've thrown me to the ground today."

Carmilla gave her a swift kiss to the cheek and urged them onward. They raced down the alleyway and back onto the street.

* * *

The streets were still packed with anxious people and they quickly and gratefully lost themselves in the masses. Behind them there was no sign of Okoye or the soldier type from the archway, though it would have been hard to spot them through the crowd unless they physically bumped into them. Authorities over PA systems were advising people to go home in Italian and it seemed most Florentine citizens were happy to comply.

"Seriously though how did she find us so fast, I thought we'd given the guys at the flea market the slip." Laura said as they cut a path through the crowds.

"You see that helicopter flying around?"

"The black one? I thought it was some kind of emergency services thing, you know, like police or something."

"Yeah, I don't think so. Why is it over here instead of where the shooting happened? It's following us and I'm fairly certain it's not because they're fans."

Laura blanched at this new information and looked up at the circling helicopter anxiously.

"That means they're probably looking for us right now. We can't stay on the streets. It will find us whenever the crowds thin out and send those goons our way."

"I didn't like the last alleyway much but I think they're our best chance, lose the helicopter and the goons in between the buildings. Then probably find someplace to hold up in."

Laura smacked a palm up to her forehead and groaned. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a creased and folded piece of paper. It was the map the elderly lady had given her when she had asked for directions earlier. Despite that only being a few hours earlier it might as well have a been a few weeks for how long ago it felt.

"I'm so sorry I'm an idiot, I totally forgot. We've been running blind and I've had this in my pocket the whole time. Okay let's find where we are and then..."

She spent some time orientating where they were on the map, looking for street signs she could use as a reference. The map was large once Laura unfolded it all the way and she needed to use Carmilla's back to keep it steady. Without asking she shoved each side of the map under Carmilla's armpits as an impromptu stand. Finally she let out a little cry of triumph and placed an index finger on the map.

"All right we're here. So if we, oh, this looks promising. Wow that lady wasn't lying, this is a pretty cool map. It doesn't only have roads and streets and the usual stuff. It goes into some real detail. Okay if we-"

"Laura."

While Laura busily scanned the map the crowds had moved on around them. As the street began to clear the circling helicopter darted suddenly towards them. But more pressing was that coming up behind them at least a dozen more soldier types garbed in casual clothing were moving at great pace in their direction.

"Laura."

"Hang on a minute, give me a second here. I think if we go down this street and go right."

"Laura!"

"What?" Laura looked up from the map and saw the goons. "Oh damn. Well, let's hope I got it all in my head." She scrunched up the map and yet again they were running.

This time Laura took the lead, desperately trying to remember the directions she just worked out. They turned off the street and into a maze of twisting paths. It seemed they had lost the helicopter but the heavy boots of their on foot pursuers could be heard behind them. While the one they met at the archway and who had then shown up in the alleyway after Okoye had spoken to them in English, these ones barked at each other in Italian. The paths they took slowly got darker, dirtier and the buildings around them older and decrepit.

Eventually they reached an alleyway that seemed exceptionally shifty. Like something out of an old noir film or gangster flick, the usual Florentine warm yellows and oranges giving way to stark greys and dark shadows. The sounds of heavy boots and barking Italian were getting closer, they couldn't stay ahead of them forever. With that thought in mind she spotted a dilapidated wooden door on a building to their left. Before it a short set of grey stairs going downwards. Where it led she didn't know but it seemed weak enough to get through. She tapped Laura on the shoulder and ran to it. With a great effort she wrenched it open and dragged Laura through the entrance before scrambling in herself.

Once inside she shut the door and turned around to see what exactly she had bundled Laura and herself into.

It was a wine cellar. Old and dusty, its wine barrels scattered around randomly and caked in dust.

"You're right Carm, Florence really is beautiful. Though, this dusty wine cellar hidden under Italian Knockturn Alley, maybe not so much!"


	8. Chapter 8: Laura

"I keep dragging you into all kinds of fun don't I?"

Carmilla chuckled at that while smiling at her kindly. She looked amazing in the artificial light. Beautiful and dangerous in the white and black contrast of the cell phone light and the darkness of the vampire made tunnel. Laura fought the urge to stare at her. If she started she wasn't sure could stop and then the image of Carmilla' smiling face would be the last thing she'd see once the Corvae goons finally caught up to them. While that image wouldn't be the worst thing as a final view she hoped for at least a little more time than only the next few minutes of life before deciding on such endings.

Perhaps it could be seeing Carmilla's smiling face while they were in a bed, or lazing around on a beach or stargazing on a rooftop or maybe while Carmilla was wearing slightly less clothing or.

She shook her head, snapping out of it and regained her concentration in time to catch Carmilla's response.

"Well actually, if you rewind the tape, you'll see this time it was mostly me doing the dragging sweetheart. You said we didn't have to come here."

"Oh yeah, your right, I'm so used to being the dragger in our relationship I forgot. Yeah this is all your fault. Get us out of here person whose fault this all is."

"Yes, on it."

Carmilla began to examine the Sumerian writings on the walls nearest to the fork in the path. Laura held the phone over her shoulder to give her some light. After some muttering under her breath Carmilla gave a satisfied grunt and looked pointedly to the right side of the fork.

"That way, we go right."

"How do you know?"

"Because on the right side it says 'To Exit', well more specifically I think it says 'To Jumping Exit'. I dunno what that's supposed to mean but I feel exit is the operative word here".

"Well, what does the rest of the writing say?"

Carmilla gave her one of those looks that Laura had learned meant she thought she was being dumb but didn't want to actually say the words.

"Who cares what the rest of the writings say. Right side leads to an exit, hence we go right. This is not an archaeological expedition, we're running away from bad guys, speaking of which we need to get moving."

She grabbed Laura's hand and led her into the right passage of the fork. It was exactly like what they had passed before, hard grey stone floor with white walls full of beautiful petroglyphs. They had seen a great many art pieces as they toured the city in the time they had before meeting Pisano but Laura didn't doubt that what they were seeing in these ancient tunnels where absolutely the match of anything above ground. She noticed that some parts of the walls they passed seem to sparkle in the artificial light and she realized that gems had been placed in some of the petroglyphs. Whoever the vampire or vampires who made this tunnel complex were, they must have had quite the fortune.

More running. Laura was beginning to dearly wish for some other form of traversal to try out soon, perhaps cycling or walking, or better yet maybe not moving. Yes sitting down and resting was definitely a life goal right now. Carmilla kept her going, hand resolutely clasped around hers and leading her ever more down the creepy opulent tunnel.

Eventually the passageway opened up into circular chamber. Compared to the tunnel passageways it was large and Laura was happy for the extra room. It was as full of artistry and expensive gems as the tunnels. Straight ahead there was an exit to another passageway. The walls remained white but the ceiling stretched upwards. It was mostly impenetrably dark even when she pointed the phones light up at it. Tiny white dots seemed to hover in it, sparkling through the black. Whatever they really were, clearly they were meant to represent stars in the night. They made a convincing simulacrum, if Laura wasn't intellectually aware she was well below the ground then she would have been certain she was stargazing at the real night sky.

"Cassiopeia, Cygnus, they match the constellations perfectly." Even Carmilla had momentarily forgotten their current situation.

Laura watched her as she gazed upwards, eyes moving from constellation to constellation, silently mouthing their names. Laura found her so beautiful in the light the stars sparkled down from darkness and once again Laura found herself distracted.

This time she couldn't help herself, she moved towards Carmilla and wrapped her hands around the Carmilla's neck and kissed her. Carmilla's attention snapped from the sights above to Laura.

"Carm, I'm sorry but we have to keep moving." She said, her tone gentle but insistent.

Carmilla nodded and shook her head slightly.

"Yeah right, of course. They're probably right behind us even if some went left. This could be where the exit is. We should quickly check this chamber and then move on if we don't find anything. Maybe there's a hatch or a ladder of some kind in here? I'm not sure."

They started searching the chamber, the light from the stars allowing Carmilla to look around without Laura's phone. They looked for anything that might be an exit but none was to be found and soon Laura found herself staring at another petroglyph. A snarling gargoyle brandishing a spear, she had seen a few like it but something about this one stood out. She used her phone for extra light and realized that it wasn't a petroglyph at all but in fact a statue in the wall. Someone had cut out a space for the gargoyle and placed it into that space snuggly. It was incredibly striking and lifelike, stone eyes staring vacantly outwards.

It then became a great deal more lifelike when its staring eyes blinked and locked onto hers.

The action was so sudden, one moment the stone gargoyle was still and the next it burst explosively out of the wall. Pieces of stone from the wall flew outwards and Laura threw up her arms to protect herself. She felt a flash of pain from both her arms and she knew she'd been cut by some of the debris. She cried out and tried to scramble back, lowering her arms to see what the stone gargoyle was doing.

In height it was about the size of a tall human being fully standing but it hunched over like a teenager with bad posture. It had more girth than most humans however, a body like a gorilla if said gorilla was made out of stone. A pair of folded wings jutted out from its back but they looked unlikely to allow the monstrosity to fly. In fact they didn't seem to move at all. Its mouth had opened wide as if to roar but no sound came out. Finally and most importantly in Laura's mind both its hands firmly grasped a lethal looking spear currently pointing at her.

Carmilla rushed passed her fearlessly, yelling at her to get away. She launched herself at the gargoyle but got immediately knocked sideways when the creature hit her with the side of its spear. The gargoyle started towards Laura.

Carmilla recovered quickly and next attempted to jump on the gargoyles back. But this proved difficult with its wings in the way. Unable to gain much purchase she managed only a few ineffective strikes to the back of its head before it shook her off. Deciding that Carmilla was the more annoying of the two humans in the room it forgot Laura and brandished its spear at Carmilla as she hit the ground again.

Swallowing her fear, Laura charged the gargoyle from behind and kicked it as hard as she could in the small of its back. The kick hurt her more than it hurt the gargoyle, pain shot up her toes while the creature seemed merely irritated. It did at least allow Carmilla some time to get off the floor and attack again.

Carmilla darted underneath the point of the gargoyle's two handed spear and grabbed at the shaft, attempting to gain the weapon for herself. The gargoyle wrenched the spear upwards and lifted Carmilla off the ground. After which the gargoyle savagely swung the spear around causing Carmilla to lose her grip and be thrown half way across the chamber. She landed hard and did not get back up.

Laura yelled out to her but she was about to have problems of her own. Finally free of the irritating black haired woman it could now focus on its original target. It came at her with surprising speed for something made out of such heavy stone. Its movements were jerky, like a creature out of an old monster film made with stop motion. It was almost puppet like, invisible strings jerking its stone limbs to movement.

It stabbed the spear at her with a jerky lunge and she dodged sideways. It paused for a second and blinked, as if unsure of why the simple action of stab spear at woman didn't result in its desired goal of dead woman. Laura meanwhile struggled to keep her eye on the spear, having to fight the desperate urge to see if Carmilla was okay. In the corner of her eye it didn't appear that she was moving at all and Laura wasn't sure if her heart was beating so fast at the physical threat of the spear in front of her or the fact that Carmilla may have been hurt.

The gargoyle lurched back into action, deciding that maybe multiple stabs could do what one could not. It thrust the spear at her once, twice, thrice. Laura twisted away from the first and second but had to dive to the ground to avoid the third. She rolled onto her back in time to see the gargoyle lifting the spear upwards in preparation for a final downward strike.

As the spear flashed down she rolled sideways away from it and heard a colossal crack! as the stone spear hit the stone floor. She scrambled to her feet and turned to see how the gargoyle would attack next.

But there was no next attack. The gargoyles strike had been so strong that it had penetrated the stone floor. The spear point was apparently stuck in the hard ground and the gargoyle couldn't get it out. Its head swivelled from the spear to Laura constantly, apparently unable to quite process the twin goals of kill the intruder versus pull the spear out of the ground.

"Why doesn't it let the spear go? Its hands would be just as deadly"

Carmilla stood beside her, watching the gargoyle's struggles with a wary eye.

Laura jumped first into the air in surprise and then into Carmilla's arms, enveloping her with a crushingly tight hug.

"Oh my God, are you okay? Did it hurt you? I was so worried and you weren't moving and I-" She babbled for a bit, pulling out of the hug slightly to check Carmilla for injury.

Carmilla for her part, seemed to enjoy Laura's attentions.

"I'm fine, I think I got a bruise on my back but other than that I'm fine. Bit stunned for a second is all. Well done by the way, it looks like you had it handled, I should have huddled behind you. Why doesn't it let that spear go though?"

Satisfied that Carmilla was unharmed Laura turned her head and pointed at the gargoyles hands.

"I don't think it can, it's not alive like us with, you know, moving parts and deposable thumbs. I think when whoever made it they sculptured the hands and the spear together. The spear is as much a part of it as everything else. It's like asking us to let go of a foot."

The gargoyles hands were indeed stuck to the spears shaft, its only option for freedom being to pull the spear's point out of the ground. It didn't seem to be making much progress on that front however, though not from the lack of trying.

"I know it's silly but I feel kinda bad for it. It might be stuck like that forever if it can't get it out of the ground."

Carmilla rolled her eyes.

"Yes, of course you feel bad for the monster that tried to kill us. C'mon we've wasted too much time and there is clearly no exit here. So the creepy vampire tunnels turn out to be not so safe for those wandering around in them, who would have thought?"

Loud echoing staccato sounds of gunfire filled the air, coming from the passageways they took to get to the chamber. As well as gunfire they could hear panicked shouts and what sounded like stone grinding against stone.

"Looks like stone for brains here isn't the only one of his kind, now that I think of it I'm pretty sure I did see a bunch of these things in the walls as we came through. Nothing's changed we have to get out of here. Before it was because we were going to be shot now it's because we are going to be stabbed or crushed. Or stabbed and crushed."

Leaving the stuck gargoyle behind, they made for the chamber exit.

* * *

And back to cramped tunnels with gems and petroglyphs, now with the added fun of constantly being worried that those petroglyphs might turn out to be killer statues in disguise. Carmilla lead them through at a charging pace now. They really didn't want to face another stone gargoyle in such cramped quarters. Laura didn't think they would stand much of a chance. The sound of gunfire continued but it got further away, either because of their movements or the Corvae goons were retreating. She bet on both being the answer.

Her breathing became audibly laboured as she started to have difficulty replacing her body's lost oxygen in the heavy air of the tunnels while charging through them at full speed. Carmilla squeezed her hand sympathetically but did not drop the pace. 'Better struggle to breathe now than never breathe again after you get a stone spear through your heart' She could almost hear Carmilla say if Carmilla was not also struggling for every breath like her. Finally they reached something promising. Up ahead they spotted another chamber, they rushed through its entrance and found themselves standing in front of what even for them was something extraordinary.

The chamber was much smaller than the previous one and was rectangular in shape rather than circular. Its entirety was taken up by one thing in its centre. On the ground lay a swirling black and purple pit about the size of a private spa. It was hard to accept it as something that was really there and not some computer animation happening before her eyes such was its strangeness, so dynamic and glossy compared to the still and pale stone of the rest of the tunnel complex. It hummed menacingly as the black and purple colours spun round and round like some kind of demonic vortex that went straight to hell.

"Ahhh, okay." She managed to get out.

"Of course, a jumping exit, I get it now." Carmilla seemed much less taken aback by the sudden turn for the Hellmouth the situation had apparently taken. In fact judging from her reaction this horrifying sight was something to be happy about.

"I should have realized before what it meant. It's just that I haven't even seen one of these things for at least a century, maybe more."

"Well I mean, since that last one in Sunnydale got taken out I hear there's not too many around…"

"What?" Carmilla scrunched up her face and shook Laura's words away with a shake of the head, clearly recognizing them as yet another pop culture reference. She turned to Laura.

"You trust me, right?"

"Of course." An immediate and without hesitation reply.

"Okay good. So we're going to have to jump."

A short silent pause stretched between that and Laura's reply.

"Okay, so let me clarify my earlier statement. Yes I trust you completely and because I trust you completely I know that what is happening right now is not the love of my life urging us to commit suicide by jumping into the clear demonic vortex of doom right in front of us! So by jump you must mean jump to or over or in something that is not the probable location of H.P Lovecraft's final resting place. Or perhaps you meant a metaphorical jump that we have to- mmphh."

Carmilla kissed her. Laura knew that its goal was mostly to stop her spiraling, but it felt so much better than what Carmilla was asking her to do so she kept it going for as long as she could. Unfortunately Carmilla eventually broke it. Carmilla found her eyes and kept them.

"Do you trust me?"

Oh boy. This was not going to be fun.

"Yes."

Carmilla took her hand again and they faced the swirling pit. As they did so the sound of stone grinding on stone suddenly became much closer and much louder. Either the first stone gargoyle had finally pulled its spear free or its friends had come to finish what it had started. Either way they had to go now.

Hands tightly clasped together they both jumped into the vortex.


	9. Chapter 9: Laura

Her world was a whirl of black and purple. While her eyes told her she was spinning her body told her she was somehow falling and yet rising upwards at the same time. What she could hear changed every other second between the stone grinding she now associated with the gargoyles and as crazy as it seemed, a radio playing music. It felt like she was drowning in water yet she didn't feel wet. Her nose couldn't smell anything, which she considered to be actually pretty helpful of it considering the mixed nonsensical signals being sent from everything else.

Her senses failing her utterly, she fell back on expectation and imagination. Why had Carmilla made them do this? Did she not see how clearly a portal to some hell dimension the vortex was? Did she forget she wasn't a vampire anymore and hence probably couldn't simply enter the domain of Beelzebub on a whim?

Oh what horrors must await them. She imagined tentacle monstrosities with creepy large eyes, giant writhing insects, random scenes from David Cronenberg films, red hoofed monsters with pitchforks, that bald guy with pins all over his head, a world without cocoa. Her mind filled with such terrors, she fought hard not to scream as she saw the swirling black and purple colours start to fall away, signalling the end of either their trip or one hell of psychedelic ride. She braced herself for whatever horror was to come. She and Carmilla would survive no matter what kind of monsters lay on the other side of wherever the vortex had taken them. Ancient Gods, vampires, demons,

Chest of Drawers!

The swirling colours finally fell away completely and Laura found herself hurtling face first towards a brown chest of drawers, the momentum of their jump downwards turning into some serious speed as they came out of the vortex. Without any real time to react she barely twisted her left shoulder forward to take the brunt of the impact.

Shoulder first she smashed into the drawers and crippling jolt of pain accompanied an almighty crashing sound as the force of her and Carmilla's bodies pushed drawers over. It fell backwards until its top hit something Laura was in no position or frame of mind to see that arrested its fall and there the drawers stayed, learning backwards about halfway up.

"Ouch." Laura muttered, while she and Carm lay face down prone on the drawers.

Behind them on a wall the black and purple vortex continued to hum menacingly for a few seconds before quieting down and when Laura, with great effort, turned her head behind her to look at it she saw it had stopped swirling as well. It looked more like someone had simply splashed some paint on the wall now.

They lay there, groaning in various pains on the precariously balanced chest of drawers for a few moments, trying to collect themselves. Eventually Carmilla took the effort to climb up slightly and peer over the top to see what the drawers had hit on its way down.

"It's a couch." She said matter of fact.

Well of course it was. This was all making perfect sense. Everything that was happening right now was absolutely logical and Carmilla didn't have anything to explain at all.

"What is happening? What just happened? Where are we? Also important. What the hell is happening?"

Carmilla took a few more moments groaning before answering.

"Okay, cupcake. Don't freak out. Everything is fine. We're safe. Give… give me a second here." She talked slowly with frequent pauses and after finishing she gingerly slid off the drawers onto the ground.

Laura stayed where she lay on the drawers and looked around at their surroundings.

They were in an averaged sized room with white walls and a brown wooden floor. A number of yellow bulbs supplied them with light. The room was packed to the brim with furniture and storage containers. Across the room and to her right a closed door seemed to be the only exit. The room had a stuffy feel to it, as if most of the things in it hadn't been touched for a while. But then why were the lights turned on?

Laura tried to get off the drawers like Carmilla had but found it more difficult. Her left shoulder was in agony and didn't respond to any commands. After a few torturous efforts she finally dropped down to the floor. Carmilla had plonked herself on the couch the chest of drawers had fallen on, sliding in between the cushions and the top of the drawers. She'd spread herself out on it without a care in the world.

"Okay, a few more moments, liebling, this place seems fine. I'll answer all of those questions you asked before. Well except for the where one. No idea."

"The where one is pretty important Carm, maybe we should work that one out." The pain made it hard for her to get the words out. She tried touch her injured shoulder with her right hand but hissed immediately when she did so.

Carmilla noticed the pain in her voice and instantly discarded the lazy cat demeanour. She got off the couch, almost hitting her head on the back of the drawers as she did so and locked onto Laura's shoulder. Concern etched onto her face and her voice taking on a soothing quality.

"Hey now, hey easy, come here. I'm sorry I should have checked and made sure you were okay. Let's take look at you."

With a burst of strength quite impressive for a human she shoved the chest of drawers off the couch with another earth shattering crash so Laura could sit down properly on it. Carmilla guided her there gently and gingerly started probing her shoulder with soft hands. Despite every effort on Carmilla's part Laura winced at every other touch. When she was done Carmilla cupped Laura's face with her hands.

"First of all it's not bad okay, it's going be fine. But it's kinda not where it's supposed to be right now so this next part is going to hurt a bit. I'm gonna do it now, no waiting around just gonna get it over with okay?" Carmilla's eyes and voice where doing everything they could to be calming.

Laura wanted to ask what she meant by 'not where it's supposed to be' but Carmilla's attempts at calming her were apparently pretty good because instead all she did was nod.

Carmilla pointed at the drawers.

"Get away from goons with guns and stone gargoyles pretty well intact and then a chest of drawers of all things deals us some damage, pretty crazy huh?"

"Yeah pretty crazy, though, I guess I'd take this over, you know, being shot or stabbed or stuck in some hell dimension because somebody said we should jump into an evil vortex or- Argh!"

Carmilla forcefully pushed her shoulder hard back into place with a cracking sound and a pop! In almost the same action Carmilla kissed her on the forehead and sat next to her, expertly massaging her sore shoulder with both hands. The pain decreased considerably down to an ache and Carmilla's fingers felt fantastic.

"I'm so sorry," Carmilla murmured into her ear. "This is my fault, I always forget with those things. By jumping they meant that the portal, that thing is a portal by the way, jumps you from place to place. I've gotten to use them so rarely I never remember that you don't actually need to jump, stepping into them is fine. Though it would have been fine anyway if some asshole hadn't put that damn thing in the way, who would do that? How does it feel? Any better?"

Laura could only manage to hum out an 'mmm hmm' in response. She sank heavily into the comfy couch and Carmilla's ministrations now included her shoulder being peppered by kisses as well as massaged by fingers. This was good, this could continue for a while.

A logical Laura Hollis shouted for attention in her mind that she was crashing from the physical exertion of what had ended up being quite the chase starting at the Mercato Delle Pucci and ending up in tunnels full of gargoyles. Those questions she had asked Carmilla before were still important and also time sensitive. She couldn't rest yet they might still be in danger.

She told that Laura Hollis to take a hike. Eyes closed she hummed more sub-vocal appreciations of Carmilla's attentions and her head tilted sideways to lie on Carmilla's shoulder. She slid inexorably into unconsciousness. If Corvae goons or stone gargoyles came around they were going to have to wait until she woke up.

* * *

When her eyes opened again she was curled up on the couch with her head on Carmilla's lap. She felt a hand lying tangled in her hair and looked up to see Carmilla. She had her head tilted forwards, eyes closed and her chest rose and fell slowly. Laura surmised that she had fallen asleep while twining a hand through her hair.

She took a deep breath and stifled a yawn, trying not to wake her. But the Carmilla still seemed to have some preternatural senses left over from her human transformation and she woke with a snap of the eyes, a cat quickly regaining its wits after slumbering in an unfamiliar place. She smiled down at Laura.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Laura pushed herself upright into a sitting position, but remained in Carmilla's lap.

"How long do you think we were asleep?"

"Not long, a few hours probably."

Humming, coming from behind the couch. She turned to look and the portal was swirling again, black and purple twisting together. She lurched backwards away from it.

"The portal!"

"Relax, its fine. Everything is fine." She held Laura confidently, calming her by running hands through her hair and down her back. "It's been like that for a while, started up again right after you fell asleep. Nothing is coming through, I doubt the gargoyles care about anything outside of their tunnels. We're safe."

Laura took a deep breath and nodded. Composing herself she tried to remember what that logical Laura Hollis was shouting at her earlier. Oh right questions, she had so many.

"Carm, what is-"

"Okay so that thing is a portal like I said, they're super rare but that tunnel definitely belonged to a vampire or vampires that could afford it. It took us from the tunnel and plonked us here. Where here is I have no idea. It would make sense that this is a house or building belonging to whoever made the tunnels under Florence, but honestly we could be anywhere in the world that's the thing with portals. As for why the room with portal in it has all this stuff? I also have no idea that doesn't make any sense at all. Why would you shove a heap of furniture in a room with your portal?"

Laura took this all in fairly well, she was so glad for the rest. She realized she had started to spiral out of control in exhaustion around the time they found the portal room. Her mind was working properly again after having some down time.

She recognized another noise, this one faint and coming from outside the room. A woman's voice and was that static? It took a few moments to work out it was a radio somewhere in the building, turned up loud. The woman sounded young and bored, reciting the latest news topics. A local election, a celebrity scandal, a brewing civil war in an African country, the weather and then the woman perked up when it was time for the next song to play. Something punk rock she didn't know.

"Can you hear that?"

"I wish I could say no, the songs on that station barely classify as music." Carmilla's nose blared in irritation. Like the sound coming from the radio was something that smelled bad in addition to being irksome aurally.

"Do you think maybe someone might have been too busy listening to that to hear us come in?"

"Well, unless their half deaf, which judging by their taste in music they might be, I doubt it. We made a pretty loud entrance." She gestured to the chest of drawers discarded next to the couch.

All right enough of this. The couch was comfy and the rest much needed but now it felt more like they were huddling in the room rather than taking a time out. It was time to find out where they were and work out what to do next. She extricated herself from Carmilla, got off the couch and started walking towards the door. Carmilla leaped up after her and made sure she would get through the door first.

"Laura wait. Slow down we don't know what else is might be here."

The door was white with a gold handle. To its left a row of cardboard boxes and to its right a dangling light switch. She opened the nearest box up and took a look. It was full to the brim with music CD's. She picked one up and held it out to Carmilla, eyebrows raised.

"Okay then. Not exactly what I would have expected."

Carmilla opened the door.

It opened into a hallway, white walls and brown wood floors exactly like the previous room. Unlike the stuffy room it was clean and shiny, well maintained by somebody. It connected to a few other rooms that they checked without much incident. A laundry, a pantry, a bathroom nothing of note, though Carmilla did quickly seize upon a cookie container in the pantry which she presented to Laura in the same manner one might a bouquet of flowers.

Passed the checked rooms the hallway ended by turning into a white spiral staircase that winded down into a drawing room. They walked down it, Carmilla in the lead with Laura munching on cookies behind her.

It was as clean and well maintained as everything they had seen. It was also as empty. The staircase took them down to a large brown double front door with windows next to it. It was still dark outside.

"Well unless we slept for much longer than I thought we're still in the same part of the world." Carmilla said.

The ground floor was characterized by large open rooms with white archway entrances. Carmilla found the loud radio on the kitchen counter and turned it off with a sigh of relief. After exploring for a while and being satisfied they were alone, they found a table in the living room to talk over.

"Okay" Laura drew the word out. "Right then, we ah, we need to..." She trailed off and they were silent for a moment.

Carmilla started laughing. Laura looked at her quizzically.

"We're having quite the day huh?"

Talk about understatements. But Carmilla's laugh was infectious, for so long in the time Laura had known her it had been rare and hence whenever it came out it still felt like a unique event, something you would be privileged to witness. Soon Laura was laughing with her.

"Tell me about it. Did we really go Sir Lancelot on a guy with a machine gun in a car? Before fighting a gargoyle in a vampire tunnel? Did those things really happen?"

"Yeah, that really happened. Maybe don't tell your dad about any of that. I don't want him chasing me with mace. 'It wasn't that bad Mr Hollis all I did was put your daughter on horse and charged it directly at a man with a gun. Also killer gargoyles, perfectly safe'" Carmilla was snorting in between the laughs now.

"Yeah sure, chasing you with mace right after I'm locked up in a suit of armour, or inside a tank, I think I'll pass on that update text."

They kept laughing and cracking jokes until it felt like the tension from their day had finally dissipated. Laura settled down and found Carmilla's eyes.

"Despite everything, I really enjoyed Florence. Thank you."

Carmilla shook her head.

"That was nothing. Wait until you see Paris, Venice, Drakensberg, Seljalandsfoss, Angkor Wat I'm taking you everywhere. The big cities, the mountains, the seas, with me you're going to see everything there is to see."

Laura sighed.

"But first."

Carmilla nodded.

"But first."

"Where to start? Pisano didn't know anything about the videos. Someone else found my videos and contacted us through them. They would have to be the same person who told Pisano to steal the mask."

Carmilla looked confused.

"Are we still on that? It must have been Okoye. She set us up right from the beginning. She came at us with a gun. She's with Corvae and those goons were supposed to kill us and Pisano and then get the mask."

Laura shook her head.

"That doesn't make any sense. Someone told Pisano to steal the mask before it could be auctioned. Why would Corvae do that when as Okoye said they could buy it at the auction? And if they wanted to kill us why not do it at the cottage? They knew where we were she came to us. No I don't think Okoye made those comments and told Pisano to steal the mask. That's making things far more complicated for them that it needed to be. I really do think she wanted the mask and tried to use us to get it when Corvae noticed the comments on our videos."

Carmilla bristled.

"Destroy the toys of a mad God my ass. I knew that bitch was lying. Just didn't think of her being Corvae. Makes sense though, no wonder they know so much about us, about me. Mother probably told them a bunch. But then who made the comments and pulled the strings on Pisano?"

Laura shrugged in frustration.

"I have no idea. Someone who knew about us and the mask, someone who wanted us in Florence after the mask I guess but why? Someone who doesn't like us and wanted Corvae to kill us? Or maybe they didn't want Corvae to get the mask and thought we could stop them? Unless we learn something new I don't think we can work that one out yet. "

Laura hesitated before continuing. She didn't want to say this but felt she had to.

"I know this is important to you and I'm with you all the way. But I think we need to consider the possibility, the possibility nothing more, that maybe we should leave this one alone from here. We're lucky to be even still be alive, how much more should we push our luck?

Carmilla looked down at the table. Not meeting her eyes.

"I can't leave this alone. They can't get the mask."

"Why can't they get the mask? Carm, I didn't ask straight out. I hoped you didn't want to tell Okoye what the mask does exactly but you'd tell me when you wanted to. You haven't and I've gone with it. You say it's dangerous so it's dangerous. But now we've been shot at and almost stabbed to death. What does it do? What does the mask do and why is it so important to you?"

Carmilla still wouldn't lift her gaze.

"I didn't want to go into it. It's not a part of my past I'm proud of. I have kind of gotten used to telling you stories about me that are, well maybe not nice exactly, but-"

"Whatever it is I can handle it. Please trust me that I can handle it. You can tell me."

Carmilla inhaled anxiously and licked her lips before starting.

"I hadn't been a vampire long maybe a decade, a baby vampire by our standards. I was freer than I had ever been under father. Father's cage was a physical place, that damn castle he kept me up in. Mother's well, her's was more… flexible. You had a lot of space inside of it as long as you did what she asked when she asked. At that point I wasn't even able to see the cage, instead she was the woman who had saved me from death and granted me power beyond imagining. I didn't question a thing, went along with everything she wanted. My new big sister Mattie always egged me on in that regard, that was one of her ways of looking out for me, urging me to stay on Mother's good side in my early days."

"You know about the sacrifices, the people I was supposed to lure. But sometimes there were other tasks for me. This one was one of the early ones. The ones I jumped at because I didn't know any better. She came to me and asked nicely whether I could do something for her and I of course said absolutely."

She finally looked at Laura, pain in her eyes.

"Mother possessed the Sarratum because I stole it for her, that was the task she gave me. It was being held in a temple in India. Rajputana more specifically, I think they call it Rajasthan now. She didn't say to kill anybody and I could have done it quietly. But in those days, even for a vampire the trip was a long one from Austria there and I was bored. I didn't need to slink around, I was Mircalla Countess Karnstein and I was death. It got messy. They did not want to give the mask up, I wasn't as strong as I became later and they almost killed me. But I managed to escape, most of them did not."

"Later, when I returned to Mother with the mask I found out what she wanted it for. Lophiiformes wasn't the only old one she was sacrificing people to. I guess one horrifying monstrosity wasn't enough for her. This one was in Russia. Unlike Lophii it was more of a feast or famine kinda being. It slept for centuries but when it woke it wanted more than just a few paltry people. It wanted whole villages. But something like that was beyond what even Mother could achieve without being discovered."

"That's where the mask came in. When activated by the possessor anyone who can hear their voice will decide that whatever they say comes from a divine source. They will be in awe of it and do whatever it says. Mellamu Ina Sarratum, 'Awe Inspiring Luminosity from Falsehood'. It takes some time to recharge and it drains the user for a fair while afterwards but it achieved its purpose. Mother walked into a village and they all walked into its jaws one by one."

"I saw this because Mother took me with her when she did it. She thought of it as a reward for me, that evil monstrous bitch. It was the first time I started to realize what she really was. Those people in the temple and in those in the village, they died so I could have the realization."

She finished her story and became silent.

* * *

If Carmilla expected some kind of shocked reaction from Laura, outrage or even disappointment at learning of these past misdeeds she didn't get it.

"Are you expecting me to judge you? To criticize you for what you did? No, I'm not going to do that. I'm never going to do that ever again. I love you no matter what you did in the past. Not your decisions and especially not the stuff that your mother, the actual straight up evil Ancient God manipulated you into doing. I wanted to know and I now I know. Thank you for telling me."

Carmilla let out a breath.

"What Mother did is partly my fault. I can't change that but I can make sure the Sarratum is never used again. I can't leave this one alone. Not this time. I think before I could have, I wouldn't have even thought about it that much. But you've changed that, changed me. I want to make this right, well as right as I can."

Her expression became pained.

"I was going to suggest you stay at the cottage, where it was safe. I could have taken care of this and came back to you. So many times before we actually stepped foot on the plane I started to say it. This isn't your fight and I knew there was a good chance it would be dangerous. But every time I tried I couldn't do it. I didn't…" She struggled to get the words out. "I didn't want you to go away. I didn't want you to not be with me. Even for only a little while. I was so selfish I'm sorry-"

Laura leaned over the table and kissed her, a part of her brain appreciating the role reversal of her being the one to kiss Carmilla while in the middle of a speech. She stayed leaned over the table, hands around Carmilla's face when she broke the kiss to talk.

"You know despite what that might have said I'm a little annoyed with you. Annoyed that you thought for even one second that I would let you waltz off into danger without me, that I'd let you waltz off without me period. I'm with you no matter what. You could have told me you think a blue and gold mask is a fashion crime of the highest order and you cannot bear it's continued existence on those grounds and I'd still be with you all the way."

Laura could see Carmilla's eyes glistening but she still chuckled at that last part.

"I love you," Carmilla squeezed her arms tightly, "so much."

"I love you too. Okay, we took a hit, Corvae caught us off guard and they chased us through the city and almost killed us. But we're still standing, still in the fight. Let's go find that stupid mask they want and break it."


	10. Chapter 10: Carmilla

Laura nodded at her own impressive statement of intent. Adopting what Carmilla supposed was her best 'determined action hero about to set off to fight the bad guy face.'

It lasted all of a few seconds before.

"Uh, so I'm not sure exactly how to go about that, any suggestions? Usually when people say stuff like that they immediately follow it up with a super awesome plan that they lay out in a montage, although sometimes they don't say what the plan is and the story just continues to keep you in suspense. Which is kinda cheap really, I mean if the characters know the plan why can't we?"

Carmilla shook her head but grinned as she did so. Only Laura could bounce from cute to brave, to dorky nerd and back again as fast she did. If Carmilla waited only a few more moments she was sure Laura would rebound from this dorky outburst to either something impossibly cute or an act of awe inspiring bravery.

Despite what she had said and despite her current doubts Carmilla knew Laura would come up with a plan eventually. She always did as crazy and dangerous as they sometimes were. But why not help her along?

"Well, to start with, we should probably work out where we are."

Although to be honest, she didn't feel like planning right now. She had other things on her mind. It had been stupid of her to think after everything they had been through, Laura would take issue with one more story of violent misdeeds. She knew that, had known that. But regardless the moment Laura had accepted Carmilla's part in the Sarratum's dark past without reservation she had felt such a rush of affection. It was as if her heart had started pumping the emotion through her veins instead of blood for a few beats.

She hadn't been able to quash the desire to keep such stories away from Laura if she could. She had so enjoyed telling stories about herself to Laura that didn't involve that kind of thing. Instead they would be stories about her life at the Karnstein castle or her travels throughout the world as a vampire. She loved the way Laura would stop everything and listen to her when the storytelling mood struck with such passion and excitement, hanging on to every word. For so long Carmilla had felt that her life was one lived without meaning, without any purpose that wasn't according to her Mother's grand designs.

Laura was changing that. Not only in terms of her present but in her regards to her past as well. One day at the cottage after a particularly long remembrance of her first public appearance after becoming a vampire, a gala at a palace near Prague that resulted in quite the adventure when a caged Minotaur escaped, Carmilla had later found Laura scribbling down the story as close to verbatim as she could remember on a notepad. She had been doing this for all the stories Carmilla had told her.

"I don't want to forget any of them." Laura had explained simply.

She'd rummaged through Laura's things and found the notepad that night. Personal boundaries were never something she was good at. The experience of reading about her own life told in her own words was surreal to say the least. But flicking from page to page and reading the words provided pleasure. She really had lived a life and by trying to shield Laura from the truly awful she unintentionally had participated in creating a record of the rest. Some of it was even good.

Laura found her still flicking from page to page while sitting on their bed, an anxious expression betraying concern that Carmilla had taken exception to her Elizabeth Gaskell impression. Carmilla patted a place next to her for Laura to sit, when she did so Carmilla spoke.

"No one, not a single person has ever cared enough to do anything like this." She flicked through some more pages before continuing. "Would it be okay if I could take a look at these from time to time?"

"Of course! I just thought that these stories, I mean, your life. It's amazing. Well, obviously not as in amazingly good. You know with the evil mother and other… things. But amazing as in extraordinary, something unique and something I think is worth remembering."

Worth remembering. She'd thought a lot of things about her life over the years but that was a new one.

"Carm? Are you even listening?"

Laura must have been already hard at work at planning their next move while she zoned out for a minute. Laura was looking at her expectantly.

Yeah she was not in the planning mood at all.

Instead she got up from the table and planted herself in Laura's lap. Laura's mouth opened and closed like a fish a few times but couldn't quite get anything out.

"Okoye was right, you know, the Uffizi is quite large. I doubt they'd find it any time soon."

"Yeah, so we should be smart and use that time to-"

"We would be moronic," Carmilla cut across her smoothly. "To not use that time to make sure we're perfectly fine before doing anything. We've been shot at, almost stabbed, my back hurts, your shoulder hurts."

"Well, actually it really is feeling much better at the moment so..."

"So, we should absolutely check for other injuries, you have no idea where bits of shrapnel can get to without you noticing. Actually, now that I think about it, I did get hit with some across my stomach earlier. Maybe we should start there?"

She took off her shirt and idly let it fall to the ground.

"Did I mention that I love you today?"

"Literally just a minute or two ago actually." Laura said in a faraway voice, eyes distracted by something or other, could have been anything really.

"Yeah well, what's the number one rule of those stories you love so much? Telling is a terrible way to get one's point across. Showing is so much better." She leant in and kissed her.

She was really quite proud of Laura really, an iron will. She'd held out for a while. But she was up against the woman she loved and someone who had been seducing people for centuries so it was always going to be a losing battle.

The next few moments went by quickly. They resulted in Laura lying prone with her back on the table while Carmilla lay on top of her. Better her back than mine, Carmilla thought idly. She hadn't been lying the bruise on her back from the gargoyle fight really was still quite sore.

It was just getting to the point where Carmilla would have to decide which piece of clothing Laura would need to lose first, when an ear drum shattering creaking noise announced the opening of the huge double doors at the front of the house.

"God, I really need to get some polish on this thing, sorry sweetlings. Huh? I guess I was wrong I didn't forget to turn the radio off after all." A female voice coming from the door.

"Oh, right yeah not our house." Laura said. Her voice a squeak.

They rolled off the table in a rush, Carmilla gritting her teeth as pain shot up her back when they landed with a smack. The voice at the door gasped at the noise. She quickly dashed to put her shirt back on before the new arrival marched into the living room and saw them.

In her hands she held tightly a large wicker basket. Her brown eyes matched her long hair and they shone brightly in anger. She wore a pair of shorts and a black t-shirt apparently dedicated to some punk rock band. But these were not the things that Carmilla nor Laura were drawn to.

Instead they were drawn to the two white curly horns on each side of her head and the fact that her legs were covered in brown fur with backward leg joints below her knees. Her feet also happened to hoofed.

Before they could try to process this the woman started shouting at them.

"Who the hell are you? And what are you doing in my house?"

* * *

Elsewhere

With most of city huddling indoors as the news of the Mercato Delle Pucci shootout spread no one paid much attention to the hanging "closed" sign over the Bianchi Negozio Locale's front entrance. A sign that was virtually never used on a weekday, the Bianchi's prided themselves on keeping the store open twenty four hours a day during the week in an effort to keep up with the bigger supermarket chains. One of the few locally owned supermarkets left in Florence, the Bianchi family's store was a two story building, the lower for business the upper for living. If anyone had paid attention now they most likely would have assumed that Mr Bianchi and his wife had retired upstairs for the evening. It was late and everyone was indoors anyway.

But perhaps if the store had a more populous clientele more people would have noticed that the closed sign had been hanging since the beginning of the day, well before the unpleasantness at the flea market.

"It is amazing what we don't notice, even right in our own midst." Bolade Okoye said to no one in particular while staring pensively at the two black body bags lying stacked up against one of the warm coloured walls

She sat on an old wooden chair in the buildings upper story living room. The room had gone through some changes in the space of a single day. Furniture, like the bodies lay stacked up against the walls of the room to make way for computers and desks. A transformation from cosy living room to impromptu operations centre. A few Corvae techies bustled around her to and fro. The specificities of what they were doing caring her not in the slightest. One sat perfectly still staring at a large monitor on a desk with feeds from cameras all over the city.

"Talking to yourself Okoye?" A mocking voice coming up the stairs rang out to her. "Because I know that there is no way you would be talking to these nerds in a tone of voice that isn't shouting."

Okoye's eyes flicked from the body bags to the top of the stairs as the voice's owner came into the room. The hazel eyed man with the long dirty hair. Her pensive stare became a glare.

"I'm reserving my shouting energy just for you, Gustav."

The man pointed his thumbs at himself and opened his mouth wide in an exaggerated gesture of shocked indignation.

"Who me? Whatever for? For saving your life or for dragging your concussed ass all the way back here afterwards? How is your head by the way? It looked like quite the bump."

"A bump I wouldn't have had to take if you hadn't shown up and messed things up like the idiot brute you are! And if you hadn't shown up, instead of a slight concussion I would have gotten the specific location of the Sarratum. Instead all we have is the Uffizi, which I might add we only have because I had to step in after you messed things up at the Mercato, also like an idiot."

Gustav ignored her for a moment and instead angrily gestured at the body bags.

"Seriously, has no one taken out the trash yet? You lazy deadbeats, it has been a whole day. We're lucky they don't smell that bad considering. Someone do it now, this is the best time to do it."

He walked passed her and entered the bedroom behind her, a room that had also been transformed during Corvae's stay at the Bianchi's. Now it was full of equipment and weapons. He spoke again from there.

"Well as for the flea market. Pisano got spooked 'cause one of the guys Corvae supplied me with was a moronic klutz, 'trained operator', yeah sure pull the other one. I had to take Pisano down, too many exits, he'd have gotten away. What if he'd run off with the mask you guys want so much? At least with him dead the mask is still in Florence."

"Oh and Hollis and Karnstein won't try to escape the city if they get the mask?"

"Well, you might not have noticed, but we shot at them too, how could I have anticipated a horseback escape? A horse! Wow, did they really lance one of my guys with a flag pole on horseback while that same guy was shooting at them in a car? Holy shit, you were in the helicopter tell me you saw that. Scratch that, tell me you recorded it so I can see it. You know my brief was one ex-vampire and an under grad. I think I'll amend that in the debrief to two bad asses."

He came out of the bedroom, now garbed in his black armour vest. The difference was alarming. He went from looking like a dangerous soldier to some kind of heavy set warrior. This wasn't a present day trained mercenary, he looked more like a modern update to the stereotypical barbarian an Ancient Roman Legionnaire would fight.

He pushed a techie out of the way or rather he moved through the room and a techie that happened to be in his path bounced off of him. He crouched down on a chair near Okoye. He spaced his legs apart and he brought his hands together in front of him.

"As for the alleyway. That information you thought you were going to get? Come on, I have good eyes, your hands were shaking so much I was more worried you'd hit me if you fired. Not to mention that sweat going down your shiny bald head. What were you thinking by the way in going down there alone? My guys on the chopper tell me you told them to stay put when they set you down."

Okoye swallowed before answering.

"We knew they had crossed the bridge but it was only a guess that they might be in those alleyways, I didn't see any reason to take more people in case I was wrong. Besides you are mistaken, I had everything under control."

Gustav smiled at her with his eyes but said nothing.

The second body bag was being taken down the stairs by a couple of Corvae techies. Okoye's gaze turned to it.

"Was this really necessary? Were there no other places we could have set up?"

"Well excuse me. You're the one who insisted on a place in the middle of the city so we could get anywhere in it quickly. This was the best bet. Stick up a closed sign, just some local store not too many people will care or even notice. Well unless they have some old folks as regulars. Those guys, signs or no signs, they'll bang on the door of the place they shop at for all eternity until someone lets them in."

He nodded to himself.

"Yeah heads up we might have to kill some more old folks before we're done here. I'll check the dumpster outside later to make sure there's space."

It wasn't cold but Okoye shivered slightly in her chair.

Gustav laughed.

"Relax Bolade, it's not like you have to deal with any of that, don't think about it. You're too tightly wound. Shouldn't you be used to this kind of thing anyway, what was that African hell hole of slum Corvae plucked you out of again? Was it in Sudan? Tanzania?"

"Kinshasa." Okoye answered stiffly. "And Corvae didn't pluck me out of anywhere. I got out myself."

"Ah right that's it, Congo that wasteland. Never mind, like I said don't worry about anything, I'm not gonna let this thing go wrong, I got a lady I need to get back to, so quick and smooth is what I'm looking for here."

Okoye raised her eyebrows.

"A lady? You?"

More mock indignation.

"Don't act so surprised, I'm offended. I've got the best lady in the universe waiting for me when this is over."

"I'm sure she is." Okoye snorted.

"It's true. If you met her you'd love her too. Everyone would, she's divine."

She waved her hand dismissively and switched topics.

"We only need to stop Hollis and Karnstein from getting to the Uffizi, nothing more. I have contacted some people and pushed some money around. We'll get access to the Gallery it will only be a matter of time. If they don't cause any more fuss there isn't any reason for further violence."

Now it was Gustav's turn to snort derisively. He got up from his chair and strode towards the stairs.

"Good luck with that fantasy. I'm off."

"Where are you going?"

Gustav didn't turn around or stop as he answered.

"Some fun stories my guys told me about those tunnels they chased Hollis and Karnstein into. Think I'll check them out. See if I can't get you a more specific location while you play the corporate cheat card on the phone."

"The tunnels that hold killer stone gargoyles? For all we know Hollis and Karnstein are dead down there."

Gustav froze at the top of the stairs. He stayed still and silent for a moment before speaking in a quiet voice, almost more to himself than Okoye.

"That would be… a disappointment."

Okoye watched on as without any further comment he walked down the stairs and heard his loud purposeful footsteps until he left the building.

* * *

Some part of her understood the social dynamics of this situation. They had technically intruded on a home, explored it without permission, lounged around in it, were about to have sex in it. Now its apparent owner had arrived and if the positions were reversed she'd probably be splattering their blood all over the walls right now without much of second thought.

But goddamn if she could not help but take to being shouted at poorly.

"Okay, so I'm just gonna kill her." She said head turned towards Laura.

Laura yelped in dismay.

"What? No! Of course you're not going to kill," She gestured to the horned woman. "She's not going to do that, forget you ever heard that. She's ah, she's ah, what she means by that is, we're really sorry, we didn't mean to intrude on your home. We came here by accident, complete accident. Well, I admit we didn't try very hard to leave when we got here but-"

"I'm getting these terrible flashbacks Laura, you remember the last time someone interrupted us in the middle of the kind of activity we were in and you said not to kill them? How did that one work out again?"

"So this isn't the first house you've intruded in. What, are you a pair of burglars?" The horned woman demanded.

"Not talking to you Horny and that's not the kind of activity I meant."

Laura held out both hands in a placating manner, one aimed at Carmilla the other at the horned woman. She looked at the woman and tried not to stare at the horns. Or the legs. Or the hoofs. Carmilla could tell she was struggling with that.

"Okay everyone take a breath here, no killing, no killing happening here at all. Don't worry she would never, okay that's a straight up lie she totally would but not… right now. So please don't be scared or alternatively if it turns out what you are is something really really powerful and dangerous please don't be mad or you know, murderous."

The horned woman glared at them both.

"So basically don't be scared or mad even though two people are arguing over whether to kill me after they intruded into my house."

Carmilla gave a snort.

"Oh please, your house? This house belongs to someone with some serious money. The wealthiest Satyr I ever knew had two woodland huts instead of one."

"Wait, Satyr?" Laura said, clearly trying to process that quickly enough to keep up with the rest of the conversation.

The Satyr went to shake a fist at her angrily but stopped mid-way to keep her tight two handed grip on the wicker basket.

"Oh so slander against my kind now? You know you're really something lady, I have half a mind to-"

"To what, half a mind to what?" She shaped herself up for a physical confrontation, daring the Satyr to make the first move.

Things could have gone rather poorly from there and she'd have to admit it would have been mostly her fault but at that moment a bleating noise came out of the wicker basket.

The Satyr's face went white with fear. More bleats came out of the basket, now from multiple sources. The Satyr looked down at her basket.

"No no no, honey's please not now. Go back to sleep, stop making noise." Her voice barely more than a whisper but Carmilla still heard her easily.

The Satyr looked back to them, clearly trying to decide whether to show fear and plead with them or double down on the anger. It was obvious which one was the real emotion however. Eventually the real one won out.

"Please, please just leave you can take whatever you want."

A head popped over the top of the lip of the basket. It looked exactly like regular baby goat. It had brown fur like the Satyrs legs. It peered out from the basket and saw them both. It gave another bleat. Beside her she heard Laura gasp.

Hand over her mouth, eyes shining with excitement Laura moved slowly towards the basket. The Satyr started to protest but Laura's lack of hostile intent was obvious even to her.

"Oh my God they're gorgeous, hello." She giggled when the head bleated apparently in response. "Are they like your?" Her voice was muffled slightly from the hand over her mouth.

Carmilla answered for her.

"Satyrs when young are indistinguishable from goats. At least that's what I was told once, never been in the presence of a Satyr that wasn't an adult, or annoying me."

The Satyr harrumphed.

'Indistinguishable for you maybe, I know who my children are."

More heads were popping up next to the first one. In a blink of an eye, four brown goat heads were now looking over the basket at Laura while bleating.

"They're beautiful." Laura said.

The colour returned to the Satyr's cheeks with a vengeance.

Laura reached out a hand towards the basket before snatching it back. She looked to the Satyr.

"Can I err, is it rude to ask to?"

The Satyr chewed her lip for a few seconds before smiling at her.

"Yes that's fine. It's generally considered to be normal to pet them until they start to grow their human features and personality around puberty. After that it would just get weird."

She gently lowered the basket to the ground. Laura gleefully crouched down in front of it and the 'Petting Olympics of Wherever the Hell They Where' began in earnest. Laura's giggles became uncontrollable as the baby Satyrs nuzzled the hands she reached out to them.

"Well isn't this all lovely and tension defusing." Carmilla said.

But annoyingly Laura wasn't paying any further attention to her at this time. Her brain apparently entirely short circuited in the face of the baby Satyrs. In fact both Laura and the Satyr woman seemed to have forgotten her presence. It was nice, she supposed, that a fight seemed now unlikely but being ignored left her feeling vaguely put out.

She stamped her foot.

"Hey! Kind of things still happening here, we still don't know where we are or who you are." She pointed at the Satyr. "As well as bunch of other questions."

Laura looked up kindly at the Satyr.

"Hi I'm Laura, Laura Hollis. She's Carmilla." She reached up a hand.

The Satyr reached down and took it.

"Amaya, my name is Amaya. I live here, this is my house."

She looked pointedly at Carmilla when she stated that last part.

"Nice to meet you Amaya, Amaya the Satyr that has a good ring to it. Your children are lovely. I'm genuinely sorry we scared you, we really did come by accident. We came through a portal we didn't know where it led. Did you… know you had a room with a portal in it?"

Amaya seemed shocked.

"Wait you came through the portal upstairs? The one that leads into Count Bagucci's Tunnels?"

Laura nodded.

"Well we don't know any Count Bagucci but that sounds about right, we were in some tunnels. We don't need to intrude on your home any longer. We just need to know where we are so we can get to where we're going. We need to get to the Uffizi, well actually we need to sneak in to the Uffizi if we're being totally honest. It's a long story."

Amaya looked thoughtful.

"You need to sneak into the Uffizi Gallery? Well if I'm being honest. Especially with one of you seeming quite nice. I think I might be able to help you there."


	11. Chapter 11: Laura

"So that's basically the whole story. In pocket sized form at least."

Amaya stared at the two of them in silence until eventually letting loose a loud exhale.

"So everything you told me in the last," she looked up at a grandfather clock on the wall. "Half hour, is the short version of why you're in my home. Also the short version of how you stopped an ancient God from destroying the world and the short version of your on and off romance-"

"On, its status is on." Carmilla said.

"With the rude lady who used to be a vampire."

"I overshare. I'm an oversharer, my bad." Laura said.

They were back around the table that had come so close to joining the ever growing ranks of very good memory spots before Amaya and her children had arrived home. Laura sat next to Carmilla and across from Amaya. The Satyr had taken a blanket out of the wicker basket and placed it on the table for the four goat-like Satyr children to lie on. Throughout her long winded and full of mostly pointless digressions story Laura had one hand petting them and the other under the table intertwining with Carmilla's.

"So basically you two are heroes who saved the world, who are now fighting yet more bad guys in an attempt to stop them from getting their hands on some object of great power and now you need my help in order to achieve your heroic goals. Does that sum it up?"

"Well, I don't know about…" Laura stuttered while started turning red.

Before Silas she'd always had the opinion of herself that she tried to do the right thing wherever possible. Though even then the majority of people she interacted with used words like 'crusader' to describe her rather than hero. In fact most seemed either bemused or annoyed at her do-gooder antics.

Then Silas happened. Her entire worldview shattered, her sense of self-righteousness lost, the idea of her being anything like heroic at all now seemed to her ludicrous in the extreme. She had made a mess, her good intentions almost killing literally everyone. Luckily with the help of others she had fixed her mistakes and had gained from her relationship with Carmilla something immeasurable in the process. A kind of happiness she didn't know possible and well beyond her past self's conceptions of what happiness entailed or under what conditions it could be obtained.

It was, as far a she was concerned, Laura Hollis the Lucky not Laura Hollis the Hero.

"I'm not sure if hero is the right word, I mean, we err, well Carmilla here is absolutely a he-"

Wait she doesn't like it when I do that! She remembered with a start and caught herself in time.

"Well, what is important is we are both simply trying to do the right thing here and now" She finished lamely.

She finally noticed Carmilla smiling beside her.

"Cupcake, she was being sarcastic."

Embarrassment coursed through her. What an idiot she could be sometimes. Of course the Satyr was being sarcastic. Because regular people or in this case satyrs, weren't dumb and believed that heroes were something that dropped through portals and into your life at a whim.

"Oh, right yeah of course she was. Heroes here to save the day pfft how dumb."

Amaya gave them both a measured look.

"Look I'm honestly not sure what to make of all you told me. I did notice like everyone else the darkness that overtook the world a few months back. I knew it had to be magic despite what you humans prattled on about. As for the rest, well, the parts that include Corvae and Inanna I can believe, those Sumerian's and their Gods were nutso I tell you. My family used to tell me stories about that soap drama fest. And as for Corvae, I've had dealings with them in the past. Evil, evil people, I would say their hearts are black but that would imply they have any at all. More like cold empty spaces where their souls should be. In fact they're part of the reason why I ended up here."

"Can I ask how you did end up living here? Maybe also where here is would be good to know as well."

Amaya chuckled.

"Yeah sure, I suppose considering you've been here for hours, you might as well know where you are."

She gestured around airily.

"That portal you took in Florence, it has taken you about a hundred miles north and a little west. We are near the Apennine Mountains, ah basically we're in central Italy, the part of central Italy that has mountains. This house was built for the great vampire Count Bagucci. Although I believe he used to go by other names, he changed his names with the times. He was responsible for the construction of those tunnels you came upon as well. He was quite old, quite powerful and quite rich. He basically ran Florence from the shadows during the Renaissance."

She went on to explain that Count Bagucci had created the tunnels originally so he could get around the city more easily without detection. As he grew older he began to spend more and more time in them. At which point he decided to expand the tunnels significantly, adding the petroglyphs and the gems to remind him of his vast wealth as he walked through them.

"What about those star things?" Carmilla asked at that point.

"Oh those," Amaya's eyes lit up. "That was the last thing he had built before he died. As he grew weak and feeble he barely spent anytime up in the city above, preferring his little tunnel kingdom or his house here."

"What do you mean weak and feeble? He was a vampire that doesn't happen to us, I mean them."

"Oh no, I don't mean in age. He had some disease, something horrid. Had to have been to take down a vampire and an ancient one at that, he had many enemies though I wouldn't be surprised if someone did something to him. So anyway when death was near he didn't want to go outside much but he did miss the stars. He'd already created one portal to his house why not another?"

Laura leaned forward.

"Wait another portal? You mean, no way. Were those star things we saw actually the stars?"

Amaya nodded enthusiastically.

"The largest portal ever made apparently in terms of diameter. Most portals of course are either on the ground or on a wall but you can put them anywhere. Bagucci commissioned one to be placed above a chamber and to lead to a location hundreds of miles up in the sky. Every few hours the portal's destination changes to wherever there is a star filled night sky. I wish I could see it, I'm sure it must be enchanting."

"The stars in your own home whenever you want." Carmilla said quietly.

Well now at least she knew what to get Carmilla for Christmas.

"It must have been hugely expensive, to get the portal to stay visibly open all the time, for it to be so big, for it change like clockwork to different places. I'm pretty sure there wasn't much of a fortune left when it was finally finished. Didn't matter much though, Bagucci died anyway a few days after it was built, they found him in that chamber with a smile on his face."

"How do you know all this? And how did you get here afterwards? Where is everyone else?"

"I wasn't around back then this was all hundreds of years ago. I learned about most this from my family. We lived in the Cansiglio forest in Veneto. The count used to love sailing, they say he did it a lot before he was turned into a vampire and the love transferred from his life to his undeath. The wood from our trees made excellent ships so apparently my grandparents would do business with him."

"Who knew vampire history could be so interesting. And here I was thinking they just had sordid family dramas." Laura quipped, smirking in Carmilla's direction. It was fun to needle every once and a while. Carmilla never seemed to mind that much.

"Oh, I'm sure there was plenty of that but like I said I wasn't around."

"None of this explains how you ended up here or why there is no one else here." Carmilla said, impatience in her voice.

Amaya's face darkened.

"I had to leave the Cansiglio. It's a painful story, I don't wish to talk of it. The short version is Corvae uprooted me from my home and in desperation I remembered my family's stories about this place. Rumours of hauntings and curses have kept others away but since I sought it out I've found it to be haunting free."

It appeared Carmilla wasn't the only one with a good story to tell. Laura wanted to ask for more details but she could feel Carmilla getting restless beside her.

"Okay then onto the real question. You said you could help us when I said we had to get to the Uffizi. We can't walk in the front door, Corvae will cut us down the moment we pop our heads up in the city, plus now were miles away thanks to that portal."

Amaya regarded them both with her eyes, as if measuring them up for a final time. She nodded.

"Whatever the truth of your heroic intentions or past deeds, any enemy of Corvae is a friend to me. Yes I might be able to help you. When I arrived I found a map of the tunnel complex in the master bedroom. It's vast and connects almost everywhere important in Florence, including, though indirectly, the Uffizi Gallery itself."

Carmilla raised her hands upwards in frustration and stood up.

"That's your plan? We've spent almost an hour now swapping stories and that's what you have for us? This has been a complete waste of time! It doesn't matter where those tunnels lead with those gargoyles killing everything that isn't stone down there. Laura we have to go. Maybe we can get back to Florence before they get to the mask if I threaten to eviscerate the driver of a fast car if we can find a road."

Amaya continued with a slightly raised voice.

"And as for the gargoyles, I may know of a way to get you through the tunnels without them attacking."

Carmilla sat back down.

"How?" Laura and Carmilla asked in unison.

"Well the gargoyles were made to kill any intruders but obviously not the Count or any of his family and friends. So the gargoyles had to be able to work out who was an intruder or not. It's a simple blood spell. You mix some of your blood with something of the Count's body and then rub it on your skin. The protection lasts forever unless the Count himself decided to revoke it."

"So it's like a hall pass, but for vampires so it's of course creepy and icky." Laura summed up.

Amaya smiled and nodded, seemingly happy Laura understood so quickly.

"But this Count Bagucci has been dead for ages, how would we get something of his body?" Carmilla asked.

Amaya turned the smile to her.

"We can get something of his body because the Count was buried along with all of his dead vampire children at a private cemetery on a hill nearby. I've never visited it myself, it gives me the creeps but I've seen it from afar. We can't get his blood or skin but we could get a bone."

"Wow so we're grave robbing. That's what we're doing now. Does that make us grave robbers, can people call us that or can we get one free grave robbing in before we have to register for the official grave robber card? Is it passed midnight yet? This is really turning out to be a day."

Carmilla for her part nodded to Amaya appreciatively.

"Have to admit it Horny, that's a pretty good plan, lead the way. You got a shovel or something?"

"Well, well it turns out the pale one can say nice things. But heavens no, I'm not going up to that cemetery while it's still dark I don't care how much you say time is of the essence. We'll go up first thing in the morning once the sun goes up."

Carmilla bristled but there was little argument to be had. With their plans set and nothing more of substance to be said, Amaya led them into a bedroom on the ground floor they could sleep in and bade them goodnight. Before she could leave however, Laura had one last question.

"The room with the portal in it, why was it full of furniture and stuff?"

"Oh right forgot about that. Well I wasn't going to ever use the portal myself and it's not like it would have been a good exercise room. Could you imagine doing yoga or something in there and accidentally tripping through that thing? So I thought why not put all the stuff I don't need in there?"

With that she trotted away into the darkness of the house and presumably up the stairs to her own room, leaving them in the bedroom alone.

* * *

The bedroom was dark, with only a lamp sitting on a wooden bedside table for light. Even so Laura could tell the bedroom was as lavish as the rest of the house. Despite everything else that had happened since arriving in Florence they couldn't complain about their lodgings for their two nights so far.

As well as a king sized bed the bedroom also featured a connecting bathroom including to Laura's great relief a shower. After a day of almost constant running she was trying hard not to smell herself or notice the sweat stains on her white shirt. As if she could read her mind Carmilla spoke in response to her gazing at the shower.

"Be glad to get in there, although to be honest I kinda like the sweaty and flushed while in a tank top version of you. A miracle I didn't get killed with that distraction all day."

"I'm sure the appropriate Laura Hollis action figure will be available in stores near you, right next to one with a flannel shirt and one with brown hair."

"Wouldn't mind seeing you as a brunette, we should try that sometime." Carmilla's words were a purr.

Laura shook her head and moved towards the shower. Brunette pfft, like that would ever happen.

They showered together, they didn't even need to ask each other about doing so. Since their time at the cottage it wasn't the kind of thing that was unusual anymore. They didn't do anything other than shower but Laura enjoyed the casual intimacy regardless. It was amazing how despite being in an unfamiliar place two nights in a row that Carmilla's presence alone seemed to be enough for her to not feel any pangs of home sickness.

She had intended to go straight to sleep but she could feel Carmilla wanting to talk about something, so instead she sat towelled up on one side of the bed and looked expectantly at her. Carmilla also with a towel around her leaned against the wall next to the bathroom entrance. The light from the lamp didn't fully reach her but her pale face could still be seen clearly.

"You shouldn't feel embarrassed like that."

Laura gave her a quizzical look, reasonably sure the lamp's light was good enough for Carmilla to see it.

"When you thought Amaya was being serious about the hero thing, you got embarrassed. Immediately you acted like the idea was ludicrous, that you being heroic was absurd."

Laura couldn't help but give out a short laugh.

"Because it is, I used to think dumb things like that. That life was that simple, it doesn't work like that. I haven't given up trying to do the right thing if I can and I'm confident enough after Silas to believe that together we can beat anything, but hero? I've made too many mistakes to even… consider that. The messes I made, the things that almost happened because of me? I'm lucky that people like you were around, so we could fix them together."

"Mistakes like trying to help others? Messes like stopping an ancient evil from destroying the world?" She paused for a second and found her eyes. "Or everything you've done for me?"

"No of course I don't mean those things, I would never regret that, none of it, especially what I have now with you. I'm not saying I didn't help do some good in the end, but I don't think I deserve the hero tag after all the mistakes I made. All the hurt I caused to the people," she looked meaningfully Carmilla, "I love and care about. I'm happy with how most of it turned out in the end. It's not like I have PTSD or anything like that. I'm just, I'm not a hero." She shook her head when she finished.

Carmilla stopped leaning against the wall and crouched down in front of her.

"Unbelievable, even now, even in the face of all the good you've done, your self-guilt and doubt weighs you down."

"Weighs me down?"

Carmilla nodded.

"It's like a chain around you never letting go. It's funny I remember being upset at you a long time ago, for the expectations I felt you were putting on me to be this perfect hero. I should have realized that was nothing compared to the expectations you put on yourself. When you don't live up to them you fasten those regrets to the chain and it keeps getting heavier and heavier."

Her eyes became sad.

"But what saddens me most is that I think some of my own words might be a part of that chain, no matter how old they now may be and after everything else that's happened. Fastened to the foundations of the chain regardless of how much I may regret them. Words I spoke in anger and grief."

Laura couldn't stop herself from bursting out.

"Whatever it is you regret saying, I deserved every bit of it. I screwed up badly so many times, I'm just so happy you forgave me."

Carmilla shook her head.

"We all make mistakes, I've watched you make them in droves but I've also seen how you've learned and grown from them. It has been amazing to witness. To see you transform from the girl I met in that dorm room to the woman you are now. I said once that it was beautiful the way you try, I think you mostly understood what I meant. That I forgave you, that despite your mistakes I could see the good you'd tried to do and that I wanted to be with you. But perhaps there was something else I should have made clearer, something that in my heart I know to be true even if you yourself can't see it."

Carmilla put her hands firmly on Laura's shoulders

"Your flaws don't make you less of a hero, Laura, they make you more of one."

She hugged her. She couldn't quite seem to remember performing the action or making the decision but here she was. Arms clasped around Carmilla, feeling the fuzzy towel around Carmilla's waist and the still drying water on her skin. She let the moment continue for a while, keeping the hug tight. Finally she drew back and spoke.

"Full disclosure, I hope this doesn't ruin the moment, I've never quite been able to stop seeing you as my hero. I know there is so much more to you than that and I know you don't like me putting you on a pedestal. But I don't mean it like that. It's just after all you've been through, after everything that has happened to you the fact that you still had the courage to try to save those girls, to save me. To defy your mother whatever the cost, even when I was too busy moping to help. Especially when I was helped pick me back up when I needed it most despite the pain I caused you. I'll try to keep the mythologizing to a minimum, you're so much more complex than some two dimensional shining knight, but I think some part of me will always be inspired by you."

Carmilla smiled.

"Well I guess after me telling you that you're a hero despite your mistakes and your flaws it would be hypocritical to say you can't think the same of me. I guess I'll just have to find the strength to tolerate your eternal admiration." Her voice had become a purr again and her smile widened to show white teeth.

Laura sighed heavily, she was tired and they didn't have much time to sleep. So despite how nice it would be to head in the direction Carmilla was clearly about to suggest.

"Okay, now that we've firmly established our hero credentials despite our personal baggage. Perhaps we should get some rest before we go grave robbing in the morning."

Carmilla laughed, loud and genuine. So loud that she tried to stifle it in Laura's shoulder in an effort to not wake the house's other inhabitants.

"Sure that's a good idea. We should get some rest considering the heroic grave robbing we have in front of us. You want to put any of your clothes back on before going to sleep?"

Laura smirked at her, coquettish.

"No. The covers seem warm enough."

She started removing the towel from around her body while sliding under the bed's blanket.

Carmilla did the same.

"My thoughts exactly."

* * *

Meanwhile

A lone figure stalks down Count Bagucci's old tunnel complex in almost complete darkness. A pair of goggles fastened to their head explaining how they could see in such oppressive dark and a large weapon in their hands explaining their lack of fear. Unlike the previous intruders they walk quietly and purposefully rather than running wildly to flee or pursue. Eventually the figure comes upon a fork in the tunnels and a choice, left or right. A mental coin flip, it comes up heads so they turn left.

Gustav doesn't know if they went left or right but it doesn't matter. He'd check the left path and if he didn't find anything he'd double back and take the right. He'd pick up their trail eventually. He wasn't what anyone would describe as patient but he could be methodical when he needed to be.

He would find her and in doing so finally get the chance to talk to her face to face properly with all cards on the table like he'd wanted to for so long, what had been denied to him for so long. He had already been made to wait for years he could take a little more time to make sure he did this right.

He would find her and then he could start putting the pieces back together, to not only get things back to how they were but to make things how they should be, the way he had worked so hard towards making them until an interloper had ruined everything.

He would find her and then he would fix everything.

* * *

They awoke at the same time, tangled together under the covers. She could hear birds chirping outside and the music playing on the radio indicated that Amaya had already awoken. Before getting up and finding her clothes she kissed Carmilla on the cheek.

"Thank you for what you said last night. I guess I still gotta work on this self-doubt thing a bit."

"All I said was the truth and as for doubting yourself and feeling guilt over mistakes? You do that because you care, that's nothing to be ashamed of. You just need someone to tell you to relax and give yourself a break from time to time."

"And I am so happy that that someone is right in front of me."

They got dressed and found Amaya bustling around the house, clearly anxious about the task ahead. She had placed her children in some kind playpen to stay in while they left. Now she was constantly finding things that they just had to do before leaving.

"It might get a bit chilly on that hill, should probably wear a sweater, I'll go get my brown one upstairs."

"Oh, this shovel's no good, it's terrible compared to the ones in the back garden I'll go get them."

"Perhaps you would like to know more about Count Bagucci before you rob his grave?"

"Maybe we could finish this news broadcast? It's almost over now. She's gonna talk about that concert in Naples and that horrible stuff going on in Congo recently. I love this station, I learned most of my English listening-"

Carmilla was done waiting.

"We need to go now. What is the problem? Why are you now so freaked out about this? It's just some cemetery."

"'Just some cemetery', the ex-vampire says." Laura quipped while doing some pre activity yoga stretches.

It was important to limber up before doing physical activity. She had tried to get Carmilla into the same routines after her human transformation, but for some reason Carmilla hadn't seemed too enthused.

Amaya finally indicated she was ready for them to leave. They went through the front doors and saw the world outside the house for the first time. The primary colour was green. Grass green hills in all the directions she could see. The skies above were grey and cloudy with only the barest hint of the sun popping intermittently through the heavy clouds. It was windy as well. Laura was thankful she had tied her hair into a bun earlier when she noticed both Carmilla's and Amaya's whipping wildly in the air.

Amaya led them on a walk across the fields, shovels in each of their hands. Laura took to using hers as a walking stick. It was chilly but the air was fresh and invigorating. Their journey towards the cemetery reminded her of the hikes she and her dad would take when she was a kid. She'd often pretend they were on some kind of adventure to fight an evil monster or save some princess. Her younger self would probably be over the moon at the prospect of hiking with Satyrs and ex vampires on a quest to gain a special ingredient for a magic spell.

She started to shake the memory away as something silly and trite until she remembered the conversation she'd had with Carmilla before. She shouldn't be embarrassed, she really was on an adventure it was okay to relax and enjoy it. She took a moment to look around at the breathtaking beauty of the green hills around her, at the Satyr walking ahead and at the three century year old ex-vampire beside her. Her life right now was something special, fuller and more interesting than it had ever been before Silas. She wasn't going to ruin it by constantly second guessing herself or obsessing over past mistakes. She was on an adventure and whatever ups and downs lay ahead of it she was going to live in them to their fullest extent.

Carmilla noticed her smiling and looked at her questioningly.

In response she gave her a quick hug and almost pranced away, a spring in her step.

Carmilla shook her head in puzzlement but Laura noticed the grin she tried to hide.

Eventually Count Bagucci's cemetery came into view. The hill it had been constructed on was higher than the others they had hiked over. The slope directly in front of them was steep enough to be a tough ask for even a fit person to climb but luckily a gentler curving path upwards had been cut into the hills side. It was rocky, a grey and stark imposing mass in comparison to the lush greens all around it. As if even the grass was afraid to climb the imposing hill.

"How lovely." Carmilla said in a drawl.

They hiked up the path. The wind picked up as they got higher, it screeched around them like a banshee's wail. Gritting her teeth Laura focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Carmilla stayed resolutely behind her, clearly ready to arrest her fall if the wind proved too much.

Finally after a torturous climb they reached the summit. The hill had a flat top and was completely covered by the cemetery. Strangely the screeching wind stopped completely once they finished the climb, giving the cemetery itself an eerie stillness. There were no gates or fences like how Laura had imagined every cemetery in her mind ever. Instead tombstones were simply scattered about seemingly without any organization at all.

"Even the gravediggers themselves wanted out of here as quickly as possible." Carmilla said.

At the hilltops centre laid the only thing that seemed to have been made with any reverence at all. A pale grey stone sarcophagus with a sleeping man that Laura had to guess was Count Bagucci sculptured onto its lid. A stone coffin at the centre of a hilltop surrounded by the tombstones of its owners vampiric offspring.

"Guess we didn't need the shovels after all. We only have to find a way to open it." Carmilla said.

Carmilla and Amaya began striding towards the sarcophagus. But when Laura attempted to do the same she found her right foot unable to move. She overbalanced and fell over onto the hard rocky ground. Trying to get back up she turned her head behind her to see what was going on with her foot.

A skeletal hand had clasped around her ankle in a vice like grip. Without her noticing it must have reached up out of the ground to grab her, the same ground that now shook as something under it pushed its way to the surface.

"Ahhh, guys!" She called out, struggling to remain calm.

The ground burst open in front her revealing a dirty brown grinning skull face, its empty eye sockets burning holes into her. Before she could react further the skeleton released its grip on her ankle and pushed itself out of the ground fully. Radiating menace it loomed over her and with a sword in its hand it prepared to strike.


	12. Chapter 12: Carmilla

"Ahhh, guys!"

Carmilla heard the panicked edge to Laura's shout and turned around immediately to see a humanoid skeleton burst out of the ground in front of a prone Laura and menace her with a rusty sword.

Her world became narrow. There was Laura, the skeleton and the distance between her and them. She raced forwards, shovel in hand. Someone yelled out Laura's name, it might have been her but that wasn't important. What was important was how long it would take to get to Laura versus the time it would take for the sword to slash downwards.

Her eyes locked onto the skeleton's rusty sword. It was short and curved wickedly, Carmilla dearly wanted to believe that the dirt covering it indicated that its edges had been dulled in however long the sword and its owner had spent under the hilltop cemetery, but the cynic in her knew otherwise.

The blade began to slash down. Too far away! Her narrowed world now seemed to slow down as well, much like it would when she had vampiric speed to aid her. Her running gait was a lope. Legs moving as long as possible with every stride just like a predatory big cat on the hunt. She had to get there, she had to get there.

Laura shrank down away from the blade, providing what in Carmilla's adrenaline rush felt like an extra second but was probably much less than that. She dived forwards in desperation, shovel extended outwards in her hand. The shovel travelled over Laura's body and the blade clanged off of it with a metallic clank!

She breathed a sigh of relief and then just a breath from her short burst of hyper, desperate exertion.

The skeleton turned its empty eye sockets to Carmilla as she lay on the ground next to Laura, shovel still held protectively over her body. Even without eyes in its sockets it felt like it was glaring at her balefully. It raised its curved sword again, this time clearly meant for her.

But then with a sickening crunch it had the point of a shovel embedded into its rib cage. Carmilla looked from the skeleton to Laura and saw that Laura had taken the opportunity to find her own shovel and stab with it as hard as she could. The skeleton jerked back, eye sockets fixed down on the shovel that was now inside of it. It dropped the sword and reached for the shovel with both hands in an effort to pull it out.

With a cry Carmilla picked herself up and swung as hard as she could. Her shovel connected with the skeleton's skull and smashed it right off its shoulders. It flew off the edge of the hill to crash down on the grass land somewhere below.

Laura jumped to her feet and pulled her shovel out of the now headless skeleton's ribcage. Bits of bone came out with it and the skeleton collapsed the ground, hopefully dead for good this time. Carmilla hugged Laura tightly for a moment before urging her towards the sarcophagus.

"For one second, I look away for one second! And suddenly there is a monster right at your feet. You know, maybe your dad had the right idea after all. I'm getting you a suit of armour, a tank to sit inside, a moat of lava, not water and if anyone but me tries to cross it-"

"I hardly see how its my fault if a literal undead skeleton decides to burst out of the ground in front of me." Laura complained back to her.

"Of course it's your fault. If three hundred years of experience has taught me anything about monsters, its that they always go for the cute ones first, cupcake."

Carmilla kept her eyes on Laura as they bickered, searching for any sign of injury.

"Ahhh, guys?" Amaya said from the sarcophagus.

"I'm pretty sure 'Ahhh, guys' is now my line. I earned the copyright when a skeleton came out of the ground and tried to kill me."

"I don't think that was the only one." Amaya continued, ignoring Laura and gesturing around the hilltop cemetery.

Carmilla tore her eyes away from Laura and looked around the cemetery.

The whole ground shook around them and in puffs of exploding dirt more skeletons with rusty blades and glaring eye sockets burst out of the ground.

The dirt that covered the skeletons gave them a brown appearance at first. But as they moved the dirt sloughed off revealing them to be a pale white. There were at least a score or more in total, coming from all directions in a circle around the sarcophagus. A few had small circular shields and all but one had the same kind of curved sword the first one had. The odd one out carried a menacing spiked metal mace.

They moved towards them in slow but purposeful strides, the ones closest to the sarcophagus would be on them in a matter of moments.

They were surrounded and had only shovels for weapons.

"Well shit." Carmilla said.

* * *

"What do you know Horny, it turns out those rumours of curses and hauntings were right after all. Just instead of it being the house it's the cemetery packed with all the fun."

She looked at Laura.

"We still need a bone."

Laura gestured at the oncoming skeletons.

"Well it looks like we're in luck."

"Aha, good one, at least you'll have jokes a dad would cringe at as we get cut to pieces. Another silver lining is we won't have to travel far to find graves for our dead selves. Go help Horny get the sarcophagus open, I'll hold off the undead anorexics."

Laura looked like she was about to debate but one look at Carmilla's eyes was enough to dissuade her.

Amaya stood over the sarcophagus searching for a way to open the lid. When Laura reached her Carmilla could hear the Satyr anxiously babbling about her attempts to open it. She had first tried to slide the lid open without success, then ran her hands along the sides in an effort to find a groove. She'd found one and had pressed her fingers into it to try and lift the lid off but she wasn't strong enough to budge it. At that point she had spotted the newly rising skeletons and raised the alarm.

While she babbled the skeletons moved ever nearer. Carmilla focused on the closest two, one to her right with a sword and shield and one to her left with just a sword. She was never much for waiting for her opponents to strike first.

She went at the one on the left, shovel held outwards like a spear. The shovel was longer than the curved sword and she was faster than the slow and measured skeletons. She smashed the shovel into its face before it could react and it crumpled in a heap. The one on the right tried to take advantage of the opening with a vicious horizontal slash but she ducked under it and brought the shovel point down on its foot, cutting everything from the ankle onwards off. The skeleton dropped both the sword and the shield to clutch at its ruined foot with its hands. It hopped away, eye sockets glaring at her angrily as it did so.

The next closest skeleton was on the other side of the sarcophagus. Coming up behind Laura and Amaya as they attempted to use their shovels as leverage to get the lid off. She yelled at them to make way and slid over the stone coffin feet first.

Her momentum carried her into something of a sliding mid air kick into the advancing skeleton's sternum. The skeleton was knocked prone on its back and it dropped its sword. It slowly turned over on its stomach and began to push itself back to its feet.

Carmilla got to hers first and used the shovel like a club, smashing the flat part of it down on the skeletons skull. The skull collapsed into bits of bone and dust and the skeleton lay still.

She concluded that crushing the bone and going for the skull seemed like the best way to go about fighting these things. She looked around for the next closest one. It came at her from her left, much nearer than she expected. This time it was the skeleton that struck first, a vertical slash at her face. She blocked it with the handle of her shovel and pressed the handle forwards into its skull face, stunning it for a moment and driving it back.

But it wasn't dead yet and another had appeared to her right as well as one coming up on the other side of the sarcophagus towards Laura. She couldn't hold off them all.

She readied a swing at the one she'd stunned but pulled out of it as she heard or perhaps felt yet another skeleton stalking behind her. It slashed at her back and she twisted away. Unfortunately this placed her directly in front of the one coming from her right and she just barely brought her shovel up to block its slash. Now recovered from her blow the formerly stunned skeleton went for a stab at her midsection she had no time to avoid.

But the stab never reached her as another shovel came out of nowhere and flashed downwards edge first, chopping the arm holding the sword off and onto the ground.

Laura followed up by swinging as hard as she could at the skeletons skull and it crumpled to the ground.

Carmilla rounded on her angrily.

"I told you-"

"You need help." Laura said forcefully. "We got the lid moving, Amaya can get it open the rest of the way. I'm helping you now." She gave her a face that Carmilla knew to mean there would be no further argument.

It turned into something of a dance after that, one of slashing curved swords and swinging shovels. She noticed that all the skeletons fought not only similarly but exactly the same. The exact same movement for a vertical slash, to raise a shield upwards or to stab. It was as if the skeletons had only a small set of actions they could take and simply chose the action best suited to what they were doing at the time. More like automatons than monsters.

Not for the first time she marvelled at Laura's bravery. She doubted Laura had ever been in a fight like this, well, to be honest, she had never been in a fight like this either technically. She rarely had needed a weapon before. She had fought sword wielding enemies a few times in her life though.

But despite her inexperience Laura battled hard and with a great deal of grit. Her movements were clumsy and she stumbled many times but she never gave up. Perhaps all that yoga was useful after all and wasn't just something that made it a visual pleasure every time she crossed into Carmilla's vision, particularly when she was wearing a tank top, or was sweating, or was sweating while wearing a tank top. Yeah she really preferred that state of affairs-

Focus Karnstein she chided herself angrily as a skeleton almost got the drop on her.

She swung her shovel again but this time her target got a shield up and it clanged off harmlessly. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that the skeleton with the spiked mace had finally joined the fray. It was taller and moved differently to the others, with more flexibility and intelligence. It advanced around the sarcophagus towards Laura's back. Laura hadn't noticed it, being in a rather engaging fight to the death with the skeleton in front of her.

Carmilla swung again at the skeleton with a shield and this time connected with the skull, it came off at the shoulders and landed next to Laura. She shouted as she did so.

"Laura behind you!"

Laura was too busy with her skeleton attacker to comprehend what she said, she beat it away for a moment and looked towards Carmilla questioningly. She took a step towards her and promptly tripped on the decapitated skull. She fell at the exact moment the tall skeleton behind her swung its mace. The brutal looking weapon missed her and instead utterly annihilated the skeleton in front of her, its right arm and ribcage disintegrating from the blow.

She wanted that mace.

She extended a hand to Laura to help her up.

"You really make clumsy yet brave such an interesting combination, sweetheart."

She strode towards the tall mace wielding skeleton.

Unlike the rusty curved swords the mace gleamed in the overcast air. A black ball studded with silver spikes. The tall skeleton raised its mace towards her and opened its arms outwards to its sides. A very human gesture that set it apart from the other skeletons further. Its challenge to her clear in both movements. The skeletons around them gave them a wide berth, slowly moving towards Laura instead.

Well once challenged like that she rarely backed down from a fight. She launched forwards, now confident in her superior speed. But the tall skeleton surprised her, it was much more nimble than its brethren and dodged with graceful skip to avoid the blow. The mace swung in the same action and she barely ducked backwards, one of the silver spikes drawing blood from her cheek as it passed by. Now more cautious she crouched down slightly and held the shovel defensively in two hands.

The mace flashed towards her again, a downwards strike from its right hand to her left side, she didn't trust the shovel to block it so instead she dodged to her right and stepped forwards in an attempt to get a swing at its face. But again its speed surprised her and it followed up its downward swing with backhand aimed at her rib cage. Remembering the way it destroyed the skeleton attacking Laura she threw herself to the ground desperately to avoid it. She rolled onto her back and swung the shovel as hard as she could at the tall skeletons legs. The blow swept it off its feet and it crashed to the ground next to her. She raised her shovel into the air and stabbed downwards onto the tall skeletons right arm, cutting it off and relieving it of the mace.

Gleefully she wrenched the mace out of the now disembodied arm and with a vicious cry brought it down on the tall skeletons body.

The tall skeleton's ribcage disintegrated just like the previous one. Though unlike the previous one a ear piercing shriek ripped out of its grinning skull as it happened.

The rest of the skeletons stopped in their tracks, motionless.

"Hah, I knew that one was important. And that I wanted this mace."

She patted it affectionately, careful to avoid the spikes.

She felt a wild spike of adrenaline. It had been too long since she had bested an opponent in a hard fight. She felt flush with triumph, challenge her it had thought to. Countess Karnstein did not get bested by some walking husk of a creature, whether she be a vampire or not. She let the elation wash over her. Her body tingled with adrenaline. Without thinking she found herself looking over at Laura. She looked so good, breathing heavily and smiling at her. A hunger of a kind made its presence known, if she was still a vampire she was sure she would be growling.

She bit her lip hard and closed her eyes, clamping down on feelings that could only be described as primal or even bestial. Where had that come from? She shook her head and tried to clear her mind. Funny enough looking at Laura helped with that as well.

"You okay?" She called out to her.

Laura nodded.

"I've almost got it." Amaya said and with a yell of effort she finally pushed the lid off the sarcophagus.

She reached down into the stone coffin and with a crunch she came back up with a bone in her hands and triumph on her face.

"What is that a humerus?" Laura asked.

"Who cares? Its a bone and we should get..." A rustling sound behind Carmilla interrupted her thoughts.

She turned around and saw the shattered bones from the tall skeleton's ribcage float off the ground and into the air. White dust and broken pieces of bone connected and reformed in the air before settling back down into the body and locking back into place. Around the cemetery the same was happening with all the skeletons they had put down. The sole exception being the first skeleton they had encountered whose skull was apparently having trouble finding its way back from the bottom of the hill.

The tall skeleton sat up with another ear piercing shriek and the unmoving skeletons sprang back to life. The tall skeleton waited for its right arm to reconnect and pointed at her specifically with its fingers, eyes on the mace.

It wanted it back.

"Going." Carmilla finished.

* * *

The skeletons resumed their slow and purposeful advance from all directions. But this time they were taking the time to form a solid line around them, once they attacked it would be all at once.

Carmilla looked to the gentle path they took up the hill. But the tall skeleton followed her gaze and its pointing fingers went from her to the path. Immediately a large group of skeletons began heading in that direction, blocking the way to an easy exit.

"Carm." Laura called to her from the sarcophagus. "I think I have an idea."

Well that was either fantastic or terrifying, probably both. She took one more look at the tall skeleton and ran to the sarcophagus where Laura and Amaya were arguing about something.

"Have you lost your mind why would we do that? That's even if we could, this lid is seriously heavy and what purpose would it serve?"

"It's not too heavy, the two of us can drag it while Carm holds them off. We only have to get to an edge, there isn't even that many to get past if we go that way." She pointed towards an edge of the hilltop. The advancing circular line of skeletons was indeed at its thinnest in that direction.

"Laura, honey, dragging what please?" She'd only heard a small part of it but already previous experience screamed this was going to be one of those plans.

Laura tapped the stone lid of the sarcophagus in response.

"Your plan is to drag this lid to the edge of the hilltop, while skeletons attack us from all sides, how would that help in the slightest? What would we even do with it once we reach the... oh."

Realisation dawned on her and her eyes widened.

"Laura no! That is insane, this is an insane plan. Do you have any idea how risky that would be, that slope-"

"Is steep not sheer, we can make it work." Laura said. "Does anyone else have a better plan?"

"I don't even understand what the plan is!" Amaya said.

The skeletons were closing in, they would be on them in a matter of moments.

Carmilla took a breath. Laura was right and once again an insane plan of hers was the best one they had. She nodded to Laura and looked to Amaya.

"Do as she says Horny, help her drag the lid in the direction I'm going."

Without giving Amaya a chance to argue she charged towards the skeletons between them and the hilltop edge Laura had pointed to.

She heard grunts of effort and a screech of stone sliding over rock behind her as she charged. The mace made short work of the skeletons in front of her. One tried to use its shield but the mace smashed straight through it, ruining the shield and disintegrating the skeleton behind it.

Once the way to the edge was clear she helped Laura and Amaya with the lid. It was incredibly heavy, made of hard solid stone. She doubted even the three of them together could have lifted it but dragging was possible. Finally with their muscles close to breaking point they reached the edge. With an almighty effort they tipped it over to have its inside facing up and left it partly over the side of the hill's steep slope.

"Okay so uh, now we get in." Laura said, trying to inject her words with as much confidence as possible and failing miserably.

The sarcophagus curved slightly inwards on its inside, giving it the appearance of a rather shallow bath tub. Amaya finally worked out Laura's plan.

"Oh my God! No this is crazy, this is what a crazy person would do. No way, you're insane."

Carmilla couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yeah she has that effect on people. Don't worry, take it from me I've been saying that since the first plan she involved me in. We're both still here and it was only that one time were one us actually died."

For some reason that didn't seem to put Amaya at ease.

Carmilla leaned over the edge at the slope. In Laura's defence it was steep not sheer like she had said, but only just. If this went wrong none of them would last long bouncing against the hard rock. But then again they wouldn't last long against the horde of advancing skeletons either. She pointed to them and to Amaya said.

"Either get in or enjoy looking like those guys by the time they're done with you. Your choice."

Ashen faced Amaya sat in the lid. Carmilla nodded to Laura.

"Okay now you."

Laura panicked.

"What? No we get in together, Carm, we stick together. If your thinking about doing some kind of heroic self sacrifice shtick you can think again!"

Kissing Laura was really becoming the go to course of action when she was panicking, Carmilla thought to herself wryly. Unfortunately this one had to be quick, the skeletons were almost upon them and this time there was nowhere to go.

"Cupcake, I have no intention of staying here at the rock and bones party, its just someone needs to push the lid off the rest of the hill before getting in."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"So I should just stop talking and get in so we can go."

"That would be good yes."

As Laura got in Carmilla turned around to find the tall skeleton with her eyes in the advancing horde. It had divined their plan with the sarcophagus lid and was hopping up and down angrily, exhorting its brethren to advance faster upon them. But luckily it seemed slow and purposeful was their fastest, slowest and average speed all in one.

She gave the tall skeleton a wide snarl of a grin and raised the mace over her head in a farewell wave. She threw it off the hill as far as she could.

Guess you don't get your mace back after all asshole.

She crouched down behind the lid and pushed with everything she had. The lid slid over the edge and Carmilla barely had time to dive in as it began tumbling down the rocky slope.

And so began the high speed sled ride from hell.

The world turned into a multi coloured blur as the hard stone slab of a lid crashed down the hill at what felt like a million miles per hour. The indent wasn't deep enough for them to fit comfortably inside and staying seated as the lid bucked and shook violently took all of their efforts. It was as if the sarcophagus lid was upset at being used in such a ridiculous fashion and was doing all it could to get revenge by throwing them all to their deaths. Despite the intense disorientation Carmilla tried desperately to keep a hand pressed down on Laura's shoulder, as if somehow one hand could counteract every other force battering them about as their stone sled continued its path down the hill.

The lid hit a jutting rock and twisted violently. Carmilla felt herself being thrown out the side before Laura grabbed her arm and barely they both stayed in. This couldn't go on, sooner or later their luck would run out and they would all be thrown out of the lid and smashed against the hard rocks. Crazy thoughts began entering her head, mostly wild ideas on how she might keep Laura alive if they did get thrown, each one as unlikely to work as the last.

And then abruptly and to her complete surprise they reached the foot of the hill. The lid hit one last rock at the bottom and finally it shook them out. They flew a few metres forwards and landed hard in a heap on the soft grass.

Against her every expectation, they had made it. Carmilla took a few breaths where she lay and reached out a hand towards Laura. The movement was mimicked by Laura and their hands met on the grass.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah" Laura said back, the word come out between heavy breaths.

"I'm fine too if anyone cares." Amaya was somewhere near them but Carmilla could quite find the strength to move her head to find the Satyr.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, huffing out hard breaths as they lay on the grass.

"Horny, tell me you still have the bone."

"I still have the bone, rude pale lady."

Laura let out a slightly wild sounding laugh.

"Well okay then, I Laura Hollis, declare this operation a complete success. Everything went absolutely positively completely as planned."

Perhaps it was the left over adrenaline but this struck Carmilla as hilarious and as the horde of thwarted skeletons, the tall one at their head watched on sullenly from their hilltop cemetery, all three of them began laughing up at the grey skies above them without a care in the world.


	13. Chapter 13: Carmilla

1873 Unguja Island, Zanzibar

The sandy beach is picturesque under the Zanzibar sun as the small row boat slowly made its way over the gently rolling waves to the coast line. The British warship it came from easy to spot from the beach in the distance, a monster of metal floating idly like an African lion taking a nap it knows nothing would be brave enough to interrupt.

Gustav took the last of the crates off the horse drawn wagon and stacked it on top of the others. He let out an appreciative whistle once he took a better look at the warship.

"Ironclad and a new one at that, doesn't even have have any sails. Corvae really does get all the best toys."

Other than him, the crates and the horse drawn cart the beach was deserted. Some crabs tangled in a fight over something or other to his left. But he knew that rarely resulted in bloodshed so that was boring. The bird of prey that circled above showed more promise but it was taking its time set up its attack.

Gustav looked up at it.

"Coward, just get in there and get the the job done already if your hungry." He said to it.

He vaguely thought about taking out his pistol and doing the deed himself but the noise might startle whichever one of his benefactors was on the incoming boat. They were a skittish lot, not a backbone among them. But they had been good to him so better not cause a fuss.

Instead he waited patiently, leaning with his back on the wagon, an arm on top of the crates. The boat finally reached the shore. Three people were on it but clearly only one was important. A woman garbed totally in black despite the pounding sun sat in the middle. She did none of the work and sat perfectly still until the two men to her front and back finished rowing and helped her up and over the wet sand so her shiny boots remained immaculately clean. She barely gave them a glance as they did so and ignored them once she was on firm land.

Instead she strode towards Gustav, now standing she was quite tall and lithe. High cheekbones and a perfect posture giving her a regal aesthetic. She smiled but it didn't reach her dark eyes.

"I was told that there would be a few more of you, Mr. Gustav."

"Gustav, its just Gustav. I'm no gentleman. As for the rest of my team, in short, we ran into some difficulties down in the Stone City's catacombs. Not to worry though, the artifacts have been recovered in perfect condition."

In response the dark woman walked over to the crates. She opened the first one up and took a look inside.

"You know lady, most foreigners who take an interest in Zanzibar are after the spices, cloves and whatnot. Not too many Europeans care about the Stone City. Or its catacombs for that matter."

"Very soon a lot of Europeans are going to take a lot of interest in every single nook and cranny of this hell hole of a continent. Corvae is simply making sure it acquires certain items before less knowledgeable individuals get their grubby paws on them."

Gustav laughed, it was a bark.

"Whatever you say lady, Africa is pretty big. Even for guys with metal ships on their side."

"Not much for the big picture are you Gustav? No matter, not many humans are and at least you've made yourself good for something. That's more than most can say."

She pulled one of the artefacts out of the crate, a wooden talisman covered in carvings.

"You've done your job satisfactorily. Though to be honest these are mere trinkets, hardly worth my time."

"Then what are you doing here lady?"

She put the talisman back and looked directly at him. For the first time in his life he felt small regardless of his physical stature, like a greater being was staring into his soul.

"Why I'm here to meet you Gustav, I've been looking for someone like you for a little while now."

Gustav raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"You have been a great employee for Corvae for many years now, not a single task given to you has proved too much for you to handle. And clearly the rewards have already been great, you look fantastic for a ninety year old. Not a day over forty I'd say. Then again, I think you would say a similar thing about me."

She smiled thinly.

"Perhaps its time for a promotion. I lost something of an employee of my own recently. I have such great affection for her but she is going through a bit of an adolescent phase at the moment, you know how it is with children. So I had to let her go for the time being. This has left me a bit short handed. I need someone to fill in so to speak."

She strode up to him, breaking into his personal space without any fear despite his size.

"If you say yes and you prove yourself to me, I think you'll find the rewards granted to you by Corvae paltry compared to what I can offer you. So what say you?"

Gustav squinted at her for a moment, he had been so bored for the last few years, going to the same kind of places, grabbing the same sort of things, killing the same people. But this woman, she intrigued him.

"Sure, why not? Let's see what you got for me lady. But if we're going to be working together I'm going to need to call you something."

The dark woman shook her head.

"I've gone by many names boy. I don't think you deserve to know my true one just yet. And to be clear we're not working together, you are working for me and if you're a good boy, your rewards will be great. In the meantime how about you call me what my students refer to me by. You can call me The Dean."

* * *

It was a double edged sword this being human thing. On the one hand colours, smells and other experiences were brighter and more vivid than ever which had made the visit to Florence a real treat.

On the other hand these aches and pains after the hard fight with the skeletons and the violent ride down the hill could very much leave and shut the door. Turning human had put her on a roller coaster of a sort, suddenly everything good and bad a great deal more intense.

She got herself to her feet gingerly, closing her eyes and slowing her breaths in an effort to ground herself. She succeeded, though the pain didn't go away. Steadied, she opened her eyes to Laura standing right in front of her, looking at Carmilla with nothing but kindness and care while gently sliding arms under hers and around her waist. She could feel Laura's breath on her neck and this close she didn't need to be a vampire to feel Laura's heartbeat against her chest.

"Hey there, you okay?" Laura asked, looking up at her face and in particular the cut on her cheek.

Well she was now.

"I'm great. Unless you move then I'm not, so we better stay just like this. My life might well depend on it"

The purr and charm was back, the pain in her muscles and bones and everything taking a back seat now that Laura was close. On the face of it the pro's of being human were definitely outweighing the cons.

Laura giggled and pressed against her more tightly.

"You were amazing back there Laura, fought those skeletons like Jason from the Argonautica and got us out off that hill with a plan no one but you could have thought of."

"Sure okay charmer, what actually happened was I fought like a drunk ballerina with miss matched shoes and got us off that hill with a plan a crazy hillbilly would have come up with." Laura said with a snort, humour in her words. "But thank you for the praise, lets agree to remember it like you said it."

"Would be in your best interests if we did. It would mean maybe next time we're alone I'll have to find some way to thank you for saving my life. I can play the grateful maiden fair for one night very well with the right motivation."

The moment stretched and their eyes lingered on each other, smiling mouths pulling closer.

"Can we get on with things please? That is, if you are finished putting on a show for the skeletons who are still on that hill."

They jumped at Amaya's words, they had both forgotten the Satyr's existence for a few minutes, never mind the skeletons who indeed were still standing on the hilltop watching them silently. Despite the menace implicit in the visual Carmilla nor it seemed Laura were discomforted by it much. Just one more obstacle they had defeated together, there had been many in the past, there would be more in the future.

Laura lightly squeezed Carmilla's shoulder before disengaging.

"I'll keep what you said in mind." She said slyly as she turned around and walked towards Amaya.

Amaya had the bone in her hands, impatience apparent in her body language.

"I was almost killed, I want to go home and see my children." She said in a flat tone.

Well it was hard to argue with that no matter how much she wanted to continue things with Laura, skeletons be damned, there were big trees around they could have gone behind one of them.

Grudgingly she nodded and they began the trek back to the house. A short way into it Laura wheeled off from their path and picked up something shiny in the grass. She held it out for Carmilla to inspect.

"I might be wrong, but I think you two might have become friends up there."

In Laura's hands was the mace she had thrown off the hill right before tumbling down herself.

She took the mace from Laura. It looked no worse for its fast trip down the mountain. It felt good in her hands, a comfortable reassuring weight and a sense of power she hadn't truly felt since becoming human. For the first time since she had lost her fangs she had a real weapon again.

"Thank you, yeah this mace and I-"

"Morning star."

"What?"

"Its a morning star, its like a mace but the spikes make it a morning star. Good one too, most have wooden handles and metal for the weapon part but that one looks to be all metal. I think its a bit short as well, I think most were two handed instead of one."

"My apologies Ser Hollis, I had no idea you were actually a medieval knight, I'm now less impressed by your flag pole jousting yesterday."

"Well actually the morning star was more of an infantry weapon, knights usually stuck to maces so."

Carmilla stared at her blankly.

"What? Advanced Medieval Weapons and Siege Tactics 101. You know, when Vordenberg took over the school. I only got up to chapter five but it was in there somewhere."

The blank stare continued.

"What? There was going to be a test! How could I know at that point the school was going to go literally medieval before that? If I disappointed Dad by destroying the expensive school he sent me to at least I could say I got good grades before I did."

If she had a thaler for every time she had shaken her head while smiling since she had met Laura she probably would have had enough to buy another of those stargazing portals the Count had made.

"I love you, never ever change."

As the trek back continued she looked down at the weapon in her hands.

"A morning star." She muttered under her breath. "I like the sound of that."

The rest of the trek went by without incident and soon they were walking through the garden and up to the front doors of the house. Amaya opened them, but as she did so ordered.

"Leave the star mace of the morning or whatever it is on the door step please, no weapons in the house as much as possible. When we are ready to go through the portal you can go get it then."

Carmilla bit back what she recognised as a childish complaint even before it came out of her mouth and acquiesced. She placed the morning star against the wall next to the doors.

Impatience crept into her again as all she could do was wait until Amaya was done hugging her children one by one, then watching dolefully as Laura hugged her children one by one and then apparently the Satyr needed to hug them all over again as a group. They were losing time and she was fairly certain Corvae didn't have to take the time to hug any adorable fluffy animals before attempting to get into the Uffizi. As far she knew they were already there searching for the Sarratum. They might even have it already and then this whole thing would have been a gigantic waste of time and effort.

Finally all hugged out, Amaya was ready to perform the spell.

It wasn't much of an event in the end, considering all the trouble they had gone to in getting one of the ingredients. A simple bowl to crush the bone in, a drop of blood from each of them to mix together with the crushed bone after which Amaya rubbed some of it on their arms, spoke some Latin and that was that. Other than a slight tingle on the spot Amaya had rubbed for a few seconds there was no indication that any spell had taken place. Laura seemed disappointed by the banality of it all.

"You know if it were more exciting it probably would have been more dangerous." She said, chiding.

Laura shrugged.

"Yeah I guess. I suppose I expected something a little more exciting from a spell to protect us from stone gargoyles guarding ancient tunnels built by a long dead vampire."

"Yeah because if there is one thing our lives need more of, its excitement."

But there was one last thing to take care of before they could go back to the tunnels.

"I can't leave my children alone here while we're gone, I thought we would only be a couple of hours up to that hill and back and look how that turned out. I have a neighbour of a sort that lives in a more forested area not far from here. We don't interact much but she loves children and we get along when we do see each other. She can take them while I'm gone."

"I'll go with you." Laura said and looked to her. "Carm?"

"I think I'll pass on another hike. It is safe, this forest area and this neighbour right?"

She directed the question at Amaya.

"Of course it's safe, she's just a little introverted is all. And as I said she loves children... and nice people."

Carmilla got the hint.

"Yeah I think I'll just stay here and enjoy that wonderful leather couch I think I saw in the living room."

Amaya left to get her children ready and Carmilla went off to find that aforementioned couch.

She found it and splayed herself out on the expensive leather before realising Laura had quietly followed her.

Her demeanour was quiet, almost sheepish.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing is wrong. It's stupid, it's just this is the first time since we left our cottage,"a small smile appeared on her face for a split second before going back to vaguely sheepish. "That we're parting ways for a bit."

"You know what? To hell with what that Satyr said, I'll come with you. What kind of neighbour is she even talking about that would live in a forested area here? That's sketchy for sure-"

Laura placed a hand on her shoulder when she tried to get up.

"No its fine, really. I'm not a little girl who needs a minder everywhere she goes, it's only." She paused for a second and leant in for a quick casual kiss. "I'll see you soon okay?"

"You stay safe. If you're not back in half an hour, I'm getting off this couch and coming after you."

"Well I better make sure I'm back by then. I know from experience how much of a tragedy it is whenever you have to lift yourself off something comfy before you want to."

Carmilla smiled at Laura's sly dig and they said their goodbyes. After the door's creaked open and shut loudly the house became silent.

Time passed in a vague haze after that, her mind drifting in and out. Lounging around was a pleasure in undeath and remained a pleasure in life. Though she had to admit it wasn't quite as nice any more when she didn't have Laura to do it with. She stretched out further and shut her eyes, savouring the quiet.

A creaking of footsteps snapped her back to focus and she launched herself to her feet.

"Argh these damn old wooden floors you just can't walk on them stealthily can you?"

In front of her was the large man with dirty hair from the Mercato Delle Pucci and the alleyway with Okoye.

The one who had aimed a gun at Laura.

"Hi there." He said with a predator smile full of dirty jagged teeth. "Found you."

* * *

Neither of them made a move or talked for a long moment. Carmilla cursed herself for letting that damn Satyr talk her into keeping the morning star outside. The same alarm bells her sub-conscious gave her at the flea market blared even stronger now. She kept her unease off her face and glared at the man fiercely.

He looked different than he had in their earlier interactions, instead of casual clothing he now wore a far more intimidating black armour vest. It made him look bigger and more sturdy, like a walking tank. His wild dirty hair and cold hazel eyes were unmistakable however and Carmilla had no problem remembering him. Surprisingly his hands were empty of weapons. She could see the barrel of a black rifle behind his back and the pistol remained holstered to his side.

He stood in front of her and the couch in the middle of the living room, to his right the table that they had talked over last night and to his left the quietly ticking grandfather clock.

She waited to see what his next move would be.

His next move turned out to be talking.

"Wow this is amazing. You have no idea how long I've waited for this. This is almost surreal for me and trust me, I've seen some shit so if I say its surreal." He nodded at her emphatically.

He took a breath. His eyes were locked onto her, unmoving and unblinking.

"Mircalla Karnstein, after all these years I finally meet you. Sure we saw each other in Florence a couple of times but those don't count, no time to talk and that... interloper with you."

His face darkened as he spat out the word.

"I've seen pictures, videos thanks to... and your mother, oh your mother, she talked about you so much, about your beauty, your intelligence, your power she was so proud of you. There were times when I couldn't get a word in edgewise while she talked about you."

Of all the directions this encounter could have this was the last one Carmilla had expected. So off put was she that she couldn't quite find words to respond with and so the man continued.

"I'll be honest this is not how I imagined it. I imagined it happening far sooner for one thing. It would have been a house like this though, I'd have gotten a nice suit and some flowers for your mother, black ones lilacs or something. Something pretty for you of course and after your mother introduced me we'd have sat down for dinner. "

He shook his head ruefully.

"Should have been far sooner. I never ceased asking your mother for us to meet since you got out of that coffin, you should know that. As soon as she told me I pressed her, you know how she is though, she always has her own timetable on things."

Finally Carmilla found her voice, a voice full of venom and menace.

"Who the hell are you? How do you know me and what makes you think you can talk about me or Mother?"

He spread his hands outwards, placating and stepped forwards. The movements were strangely restrained and small for his size, like a wild bear intruding into a house but then taking care to not knock over anything.

"Of course, getting too far ahead of myself. My name is Gustav, just Gustav, only one name for me. Must be strange for someone like you, Mircalla, Carmilla, Countess Karnstein and that's just for starters."

While he talked Carmilla took better stock of her surroundings. Behind her and the couch was an open archway that led to the dining room, probably not helpful in of itself but the kitchen could be accessed through another archway from there. A kitchen meant knives and knives meant weapons. Not as good as the morning star placed on the doorstep but her quickest path there was through the drawing room, which was blocked by this Gustav.

"I don't know how else to put this, I had hoped your mother would explain everything when she introduced me. Your mother and I have been together as lovers for many years."

The plans for attack or escape scattered into a million pieces at that.

"What? The hell are you talking about? Mother didn't have anything like that going on and anyway there was that Hast-"

"I know this is quite the shock, damn it I should have pressed harder to do this earlier. Your mother and I met in Africa, probably over a century ago now. I was working with Corvae back then just like now. I started working for her on the side and things happened from there."

He shook his head again.

"This would have been so much easier with your mother here."

He crouched down in front of her, though the size difference was such he still almost came up to around her height even then.

"I am sorry I should have done this sooner, been there for you before. To give you advice, to ward off bad influences. Well usually you would think that'll be from boys but it seems like girls are just as dangerous, the situation we're currently in case in point eh?"

He gestured around him airily.

"All that crap that girl filled your head with, I'd have put my foot down, your mother was busy I get that but if I was there like I should have been, I'd have put a stop to it. It's my fault I accept that. I failed you there, failed all of you. You, your mother, Rook I mean Matska. It's all my fault."

At the mention of Laura and Matska her eyes blazed in anger.

"I don't know who you think you are but if you talk about Laura or Mattie again I'll... Rook, you called Mattie Rook how did you know about that?"

"Well from your mother of course. She'd talk about Matska as well, but nowhere near as much as you. Don't let it go to your head but you were definitely the favourite."

He smiled with his jagged teeth again, it was probably supposed to be ingratiating but he couldn't pull it off. It wasn't a natural expression for his face. Instead he just looked like a predator preparing its strike.

"Your mother always wanted us to meet, she said so to me many times. She was just waiting for the perfect moment."

None of this made any sense, she struggled to keep up with Gustav's words, especially so considering she still couldn't shake the feeling that at any moment things could explode into violence.

"Perfect moment?" She asked, incredulous. "And when exactly would that have been?"

"When you were ready. But you're humouring, you don't believe me and I get that, I've come out of nowhere with this."

"Oh I think I believe some of it. 'Working for her' you said right? I don't know you but I do know Mother, I think I can work out what's happening here. You were one of her stooges, God she's had so many. I can imagine she sold you a whole load of bullshit to get you to do whatever she wanted, lovers? Don't make me throw up, she didn't even understand the concept, as it turned out literally so."

Gustav laughed lightly, but there was an edge to it.

"You don't know what you're talking about, that's okay how could you?"

"Not to mention she apparently did everything for the person she lost her love for, so unless your name is Gustav Hastur-"

Gustav reared back up to his full height and roared out in anger at the name, spittle flying out of his mouth. His next words came out in a ramble.

"I don't want to hear that name! You understand? It couldn't have been like that, she would have told me, she must have had some loyalty or affection for him that's all. She's millennia old she doesn't have to tell me about every past relationship, maybe long ago she did love him, but things changed when she met me."

"She didn't tell you about Hastur did she? You only found out when you watched Laura's videos."

"Like she told you about him and explained what she really was? Oh wait no she didn't tell you either of those things. She didn't need to tell me about that guy, there was nothing to tell. But she did eventually trust me with her identity. I remember the day clearly, hot summers day in Singapore right before the war. She never deigned to tell you though, so perhaps I might know some things about her you don't."

She didn't want to admit it but despite the hatred she had and still felt towards her mother that last comment stung. After so many years the relationship between her and Mother was hard to define and filled with contradictions. The complex nature of it meant that made sense to her that she could hate Mother murderously yet still take some kind of perverse pride in being close to her for so long, in being her favourite.

Now this man was suggesting she wasn't as close as she thought.

Gustav had regained his composure after verbally scoring some points. The faux smile came back, she wondered whether he knew how ineffective it was.

"She gave me such a gift when she and I met, much like she did for you in Austria. Before I met her I was devoid of purpose, just drifting. She gave me something to work towards, something I'd never had nor knew I even needed, a family. That's what we would have been eventually, the four of us. I just needed a little more time to prove myself, to show myself worthy."

His face darkened again.

"But before that could happen someone came along and ruined it all, destroyed what I'd been working towards for so many years. Buttercup and sunshine Barbie, Nancy Drew'd her way into what was supposed to be my... our family! Now Rook is dead, Inanna unreachable and you drained of all that made you great. She really did a number on us and I wasn't even there to try and stop her."

His voice kept rising and for a moment it seemed he might start shouting again but he swallowed visibly and the faux smile pasted itself back onto his face.

"It's okay though I'm fixing it, I can fix everything. I have it all in hand. I knew the first meeting would be tough without your mother to help things. You don't know me and you so lash out. Its fantastic actually you're just as ferocious as she described. Though I'm thinking some of that is due to what's been going on in the past couple of days. I was counting on that."

Now her sub-conscious was screaming something other than warnings. Counting on that.

"It was you. You told Pisano to steal the Sarratum and made the comments on Laura's video. You're with Corvae so you had access to the videos and you would have heard about the auction for the Sarratum. You set this whole thing up."

Gustav's eyes shone brightly.

"And sharp! So sharp and quick, she said that too. Poor old Pisano, in my defence the emails I sent him did promise that he would be taken care of. It's not my fault he didn't understand what that really meant. Once something as powerful as the Sarratum was out and about it was just a matter of time until the big wigs threw their best asset at the problem."

He pointed two thumbs at himself.

"Then it was just a matter of getting you two in Florence as well. Something from your past, connected to your mother for you. Some cheap mystery for the interloper to sink her teeth into. Bang! Snagged you both. And when it seemed like it was all going wrong on account of you two not checking your messages, that idiot Okoye went to get you personally!"

Carmilla could have sworn she could see his chest rising, as if concocting a plan to put the daughter of the God he proclaimed to love and her girlfriend in extreme danger was something to be proud of.

"Why go to all this trouble? If Okoye knew where we were you would have as well, why not just go to the cottage and kill us there if you wanted revenge?"

Gustav reeled back at that.

"Revenge? Kill you? Is that what you think I'm after here? Okay yeah, sure the interloper absolutely, there is a great deal of vengeance to be metered out to her but kill you? No Mircalla I did all this to set you free, to bring you back to yourself. I want you to remember who you are, not this pathetic husk that girl has tried to turn you into. Then we can be the family we were supposed to be, the three of us together."

She felt bile build up in her throat.

"I don't know if I can adequately explain just how insane that is. For one thing maybe you forgot but Mother is gone and so is Mattie, there is no family."

"No that's not true. Mattie yes, I'm so sorry like I said I should have been there and the interloper will pay but Inanna isn't gone, she transcended and she can do whatever she wants now. She can talk to us and be with us whenever she likes. I couldn't make sense of it, why she didn't talk to me. For awhile I thought she might have abandoned me but I worked it out. She always required me to prove myself to her when she was down here, of course its the same now she's up there. I needed to give her something, something worthy of a God. She never got the chance to make us a family so now its up to me you see? I bring her favourite daughter back to her and create the family she never did. That's how I prove myself, that's how I get her to come back to me."

His eyes were shining again and his words came out thick and fast, a fervour to them bordering on religious.

"You're insane."

He ignored her.

"I couldn't do it by just waltzing up to your cosy little cottage, the interloper would have given you some sad puppy eyes and you wouldn't have listened to a word I said, she's got you all wrapped up, your head's not straight. I needed you back in the thick of things, get that blood pumping again. You were magnificent. I saw those scrubs you beat up in the streets, a flag pole such creativity! Then you got past those gargoyles and I'm willing to bet you've gotten into a scrape or two since then doing something or other. Tell me you haven't felt anything from it all, from your blood pumping with adrenaline, from fighting for your life and winning because you're Countess Goddamn Karnstein the Pale Shadow of Death. Tell me you don't miss being that, I think if your honest you won't be able to."

She flashed back to her moment on the hilltop and banished it away just as quickly. She took a breath before speaking.

"You're wrong. About everything, you don't know me and other than you clearly being insane I don't know anything about you. Whatever psycho delusions you've built up the real reason Mother isn't talking to you now is the same reason she never introduced us before. She didn't love you, you were a tool and when she didn't need you any more she forgot about you. You were never important and you didn't get to meet Mattie or I because when the family retires to their bedrooms for the night, the attack dog stays outside."

He blinked multiple times and his mouth opened and closed without a word.

"But none of that is important, only two things are important here and none of them are your moronic delusions. One, you tried to kill Laura in that alleyway."

She balled her hands into fists.

"And two, you plan on trying to hurt her again."

She launched forwards at him, fists flying. To hell with escape.

He wasn't even remotely prepared for the attack and he didn't react to it. She went for his face and his throat, attacking the chest with the armoured vest in the way seemed like a good way to break all her fingers.

She battered him slowly backwards with a flurry of blows and he barked repeatedly in pain, her confidence surging with every successful hit without reply. He used his arms to cover up but her fists found ways around his guard. Large or not he'd go down eventually, she just had to keep the blows coming.

Then she realized the barking sound was him laughing.

"You really are amazing, wow those hits are fast and ferocious. But unfortunately Mircalla they just don't have the same power behind them they used to do they?"

His counter punch came without warning, a crushing blow to her stomach that squeezed the breath out of her lungs. He followed it up by shoving her hard in the chest and she flew backwards. Her back hit the couch hard enough to flip it backwards and she tumbled into the dining room behind her.

The dining room was dominated by a large rectangular wooden table surrounded by chairs. She felt the back of her head hit one of those chairs and on reflex she twisted around wrapped her hands around the legs and threw it in Gustav's direction. Without looking to see the results she ran for the kitchen. Back to plan A, get a knife.

The kitchen was unfamiliar to her which made her search for the biggest knife she could find a wild one. Cutlery and pots clattered as they hit the ground, she picked up a black steak knife and looked up to see where Gustav was.

He was advancing in casual strides across the dining room towards her.

"For Corvae and your mother I've been in gunfights, fought vampires, demons and a whole host of things and here you are trying to kill me with wooden chairs and steak knives. I admire your optimism."

Once he got into range she stabbed the knife at him, this time he did react to the attack and twisted to his left. The knife went straight into his right shoulder and he staggered back. He regained his balance after a few steps and without even the slightest appearance of pain he took the knife out and snapped it in two.

Her blood ran cold, your mother and I met in Africa, probably over a century ago. She hadn't quite processed it at the time but now the implication of that statement hit home. He wasn't human.

To her left lay another open archway to the drawing room. She dashed through it but this time Gustav stayed with her. He tugged on the back of her jacket to spin her around and a straight punch knocked her to the ground. Her head spun and stars became the only thing she could see clearly. Vaguely she made out the double doors to her right and an image of the morning star came to mind but then a large boot came down hard on her chest and again the air disappeared from her lungs.

Things got hazy after that, she dimly noticed Gustav standing over her. He might have been saying something but she couldn't make it out. Then he abruptly got smaller and really pretty. The bastard was holding her morning star and leaned in close to say.

"Carm! Carm! We have to go, please you have to get up."

"Whoever that guy is he's getting back up!" Another voice from somewhere she couldn't see.

"Then help me with her!"

Her vision cleared slightly and she made out pretty brown eyes full of concern and worry attached to a beautiful face with golden hair.

"Laura?"

"Yes it's me, its okay everything is going to be fine, we're getting you out of here."

She felt herself getting lifted to her feet and the world turned into a slideshow. She saw flashes of a spiral staircase, a hallway, a brown door and then nothing but purple. But when she shut her eyes all she could see was a face full of jagged teeth and the burning dark eyes of her mother.


	14. Chapter 14: Laura

"Wow so that was a thing." Laura said.

Amaya nodded beside her.

"Yeah for a second I wasn't sure we were going to get out of there."

The Satyr cocked her head and winked at her.

"Well at least not without you getting another dose of Spriggan seduction eyes."

"Wait," Laura's jaw dropped. "That was a Spriggan back there?"

The two were walking back to the house, short four satyr children, with one of them very much trying to pretend nothing of note had happened at all.

"Yes. She's the only one I know personally and boy did she want to get to know you personally. I knew she'd like you but damn, I thought you said the other one was the vampire seductress."

"Carm gets told none of this, I'm warning you hoofed lady... person. Not one word or Spriggan or not you'll be short one neighbour. Carm is not above burning down a forest, she'd probably quite enjoy it actually."

Amaya's eyes were twinkling.

"Oh, don't be so uptight. Verashma is real good looking for a thousand year old forest creature. Who would have thought forest living would result in such great skin?"

"She was lovely." Laura said through gritted teeth. "I was very flattered, but I happen to have a girlfriend I'm absolutely one hundred percent committed too. Like Frodo travelling to Mordor committed. And in regards to said girlfriend, I love her but let's just say she's not exactly stellar on the whole 'don't be possessive about your loved one's thing'. She's getting better, but yeah like I said, one word, one burnt down forest."

Amaya simply laughed and they kept hiking.

The morning clouds had given away to a midday shining sun and once again Laura found great pleasure in taking in her surroundings.

Out of a small forest that Laura now suspected probably wasn't a fully natural occurrence, they were back on the grassy fields. Behind them and beyond the forest the Apennines Mountains stood tall in the distance. They should come back when this was all over Laura decided to herself, the area was beautiful and varied, it would be a joy for her and Carmilla to explore it without being in the middle of a crisis. She smiled to herself as thoughts of the adventures they could have exploring the world filled her mind, Carmilla's promise of showing her everything there was to see ringing sweetly in her ears.

Despite the dangers of the past couple of days, a part of her reflected that it had done them both good to get out of their cottage and face the world again. She promised herself that once this was over she would make sure the cottage's cosy comfort never lulled them into turning it into a cushy prison of their own making.

"It's hard to blame her." Amaya said abruptly as the house became visible in the distance.

"Sorry?"

"Your girlfriend, you can't blame her for feeling a little defensive about you. It's hard not to notice the way she looks at you. If only the father of my children ever looked at me with even half as much love as that. A vampire or a former one of that age, the things she must have seen and done. That puts you in a dark place and the better you are deep down inside the worse it is. I don't claim to have experienced the darkness a centuries year old vampire would have gone through but I've lived awhile and I've had a taste of it, the kind of darkness where you lose hope, start to think that it might be better to give up on everything so it won't hurt as much. Luckily, I had my kids, they shined a light down for me to get out. I owe them so much for that."

She gestured towards Laura.

"I don't need to ask if you do that for her, those looks tell me everything I need to know. I don't claim to know you two well, but I think I can empathize with how precious you must be to her."

Laura felt herself redden.

"More often than not I feel like it's the other way around. I wouldn't be here alive without her a dozen times over. But it's not only that, when I'm with her." She smiled and shrugged. "It's like something beyond happiness. I'm just... better thanks to her. Does that make sense?"

Amaya nodded.

They continued their trek across the green fields.

"A taste of darkness you said. Was it from what Corvae did to your home?" Laura asked, hoping her inquisitive side wasn't about to get her on Amaya's bad side.

"Journalism course was it, before you went on a life changing, world saving adventure? Nice try but I'm in no mood for reminiscing about things I'd rather forget and anyway, we're back."

Amaya's home lay in front of them and Laura's disappointment over not learning more about Amaya quickly got replaced by the prospect of getting back to Carmilla. She tried not to walk too fast through the garden, it hadn't been even much more than an hour she was being silly. Carmilla probably wouldn't have moved an inch on the couch yet never mind have started missing her.

A man's voice came ringing out from the front door.

Laura froze and looked to Amaya whose face echoed Laura's question. Laura strained to hear what the voice was saying.

"I know this is tough right now and there is going to be a lot of pain in the short term, but one day soon you'll thank me for putting you back on the right path. We'll both have the family we deserve and the one we need. Oh, and don't worry when she comes back I won't kill her right in front of you, I'll do it outside. I'll keep your pain to a minimum, I'm not some psychopath."

As well as the voice, Laura could hear groans of pain. With a start, she recognised them as Carmilla's.

Carmilla was in there with a man who was hurting her and from what she had heard planned on killing who she could only surmise to be herself as soon as she got back to the house.

Another groan of pain from Carmilla set her moving without thought. Amaya grabbed at her arm and whispered something about stopping and thinking but that sounded dumb, what she was doing was much smarter, whatever that was.

Her strides turned into a run as she charged towards the door, at the last second, she saw the discarded morning star and picked it up with one hand while the other pushed the double doors open with a mighty creak.

In front of her a large man stood over a prone Carmilla. The man had his back towards her and had started to turn around at the noise the door had made. On instinct, she charged and swung the morning star like a baseball bat at his back. The swing connected and the weapons spikes seemed to stick into the man's back for a split second before the force of the blow knocked him forwards off his feet and onto the ground. There he stayed on all fours, not dead but clearly stunned.

Laura briefly glanced at the morning star, wondering how she had hit with such power, before Carmilla became the whole world and all other thoughts scattered. She leant down to get a better look at her.

It probably wasn't possible for Carmilla to look bad exactly but the state of her shocked Laura. The cut on her cheek had gotten bigger and bled freely, her breathing was ragged and when Laura tried to touch her chest the groans got louder. Her eyes seemed to have trouble focusing and Laura was uncertain she even realised that Laura was there.

But regardless of all that the large man was not incapacitated and she didn't know if he had any friends. He must have been Corvae so more goons could show up at any time. The portal, they had to get to the portal it was their only chance.

"Carm! Carm! We have to go, please you have to get up."

"Whoever that guy is, he's getting back up!" Amaya said. She hadn't noticed but the Satyr must have come in after her.

"Then help me with her!" She snapped, harsher than she had intended.

"Laura?"

Carmilla's voice was low and wracked with pain, though her vision seemed clearer at least as her eyes were focused on Laura.

"Yes, it's me, it's okay everything is going to be fine, we're getting you out of here."

She wished she could inject her words with half as much of the soothing quality Carmilla could, like when she had injured her shoulder going through the portal. Instead to her own ears they came out in a babble.

Amaya strode past her and took one of Carmilla's shoulders in her arms. Laura did the same with one arm while holding the morning star loosely with the other. They lifted her upright between them. She heard the large man recovering and slowly getting to his feet, they had to get upstairs immediately.

"The portal." She said to Amaya, who agreed with a quick nod.

Carmilla's feet barely moved and they had to haul her up the staircase, whether she knew what was happening Laura couldn't guess. She felt torn over the need to move quickly and the desire to be gentle.

That internal debate got settled as a shot rang out passed them and hit the ceiling above as they reached the top of the stairs. The large man had recovered and she could hear boots thundering on the wooden floor. No matter how Carmilla may be now she'd be worse riddled with bullets, she and Amaya ignored the groans and went into a run.

They reached the brown door to the portal turned storage room. Amaya wrenched it open and as they bundled in together another shot zipped past, accompanied by a roar of frustration. Laura kicked the door closed behind her with the back of her heel to buy some more time, a matter of seconds, they had nothing more.

The path to the portal on the wall turned out to be frustrating, the clutter of furniture and other storage proving harder to navigate while dragging a semi-conscious passenger. The tension made the simple navigation of a modestly sized room into a journey, at any moment Laura expected the door to open and bullets to start tearing into them. When they reached the portal without harm she sighed heavily in relief, but beside her, Amaya faltered.

"What if he got here from the portal and there are more on the other side?" Amaya asked.

"Then we're dead."

It was the only reply to give.

Without allowing Amaya any more time to hesitate she rushed them all forwards into the portal and back to dark tunnels under Florence.

* * *

The Holiday House and Estate of Count Bagucci

The grandfather clock gave one last chime before it disintegrated on contact with the wooden floor. Glass shattered and the hands spun away wildly into the air and through a window to tell the time to clouds. The house had been built for a vampire but now it inhabited a true beast in the disguise of a human. It roared in anger, the wild bear that had tried so hard not to knock over anything now deciding civility wasn't worth the effort after all.

He had been so close, Gustav raged to himself and aimed kick at the broken remnants of the grandfather clocks body. Such an action could have broken the toes of a regular person but instead it was the old hard wood that broke and splintered, the blow bisected the clock into two messy sections. Gustav walked over it, one foot landing in one of the sections and breaking it even further. A referee would have stopped this mismatched fight between man and clock a while ago.

The destruction calmed him down, he steadied himself against a wall and let himself think. He had been too late in getting to the door to the portal room and the interloper had escaped him again. Worse she had taken Mircalla with her, there had also been another person, some hybrid freak from what little he saw. Portals took time to recharge, by the time he could go through it again they would be a fair distance away.

But he could get to Florence another way and he knew what their eventual destination would be.

He walked outside and took in his surroundings. He took out a small radio from a pouch on his vest and turned it on.

"You still alive Okoye? Or did you sit down too hard and accidentally shove that stick up your ass right into your brain while I was gone?"

The radio crackled for a few seconds before Okoye answered him.

"Where the hell are you? I assumed you were dead. What kind of cooperation is this? We are supposed to be working together and you waltz off without contact for hours, your goons are flopping about like beached fish wondering what to do and I'm not some mercenary soldier I don't know what to tell them. This is all your fault. This whole thing is a mess."

"Yes, thank you, this is exactly why I called, to hear you whine and moan at me. I need you trace the beacon I've activated to find my location, get the helicopter here and take me back to Florence."

"Back to Florence? What the hell are you talking about?'

"Trace my location, send helicopter, I come back. Okay Okoye? Can you handle that? Right bye."

He made to switch off the radio but Okoye's angry shouts stayed his hand.

"I said repeatedly that putting you on this was a mistake! You're a goddamn lunatic and everything you touch turns to shit and explodes. There is a reason why most of what Corvae gets you to do is away from civilization. Maybe your methods work in third world cesspools in the Middle East or South Asia or-"

"Africa? Cesspools like Africa? You know, it occurs to me that you really wanted this one, didn't you? Asked for the assignment personally, wanted it to be you and only you. It didn't spark too much interest in me at the time, some brownnoser after some kudos. But now that I'm thinking, It's Congo you're from, right?"

Okoye voice became defensive.

I don't see how that is at all relevant."

"Yeah Kinshasa that's it. Some serious shit about to go down there, hard to escape from that, it's on every screen you walk past. Must be real hard from where your standing, to watch that happening. Might be hard enough to make someone want to do something about it. Maybe I should ask our superiors about that, wouldn't want your mental state to get in the way of a successful outcome, would we?"

Even on a radio miles away he heard the swallow, he could almost see the sweat beads on her bald head.

"I can assure you that Corvae is my only priority."

His barking laugh rang out again.

"Relax Okoye, I have certainty that Corvae is as much a priority to you as it is to me. Trace, send, I come back."

He switched off the radio and Okoye left his mind completely.

Yes, the interloper had eluded him but he'd get another shot at her, he was sure of it and as for Karnstein, she couldn't deny her family forever. Things were well in hand, it was only a matter of time.

* * *

The much-anticipated sequel trip through weird purple portal land wasn't as uncomfortable as the original. Knowing what was happening, where they were going and roughly how long it would take helped immensely. She shut her eyes and took slow breaths, desperately hoping that they weren't about to jump straight into the guns of more Corvae goons. The gargoyles were still a factor for those goons, surely, they hadn't found a way through them.

The portal opened and Laura had one second to take in the familiar sight of the portal room, one second to sigh in relief at the fact the room was empty and one last second to brace for impact as all three of them fell to the ground after the portal pushed them up and out of its swirling mass.

They fell in a clump, tangled together. The morning star clattered across the ground as she lost her grip on it. For a moment, Laura panicked when she felt fur on a bare part of her leg before she remembered Amaya.

She had forgotten about the tunnel's oppressive darkness, she could only barely see the majority of the room and nothing through the doorway out. With her free hand, she took out her phone and once again they were back to relying on its white light to navigate.

They struggled to their feet, well, technically Laura and Amaya struggled to their feet while Carmilla allowed herself to be dragged up. Laura spared a glance around to see that the portal entrance on the ground here in the tunnels under Florence now looked the same as the one on the wall at the house shortly after exiting it. The swirling purple and black inert and the ominous humming silent.

"How long until it opens again?" She asked as they began dragging Carmilla between them once more.

"I don't know exactly, the more people that go through a portal the longer it takes to recharge. Three people? Half hour maybe."

That was long enough, she indicated to Amaya that she would take care of Carmilla herself for the moment and found a wall to gently sit Carmilla's back against near the room's exit. Then deciding the wall wasn't comfortable enough, she slid in behind between Carmilla and the wall, putting Carmilla in her lap as Carmilla leaned backwards against her chest.

"What are you doing?" Amaya asked.

"She just needs a minute."

The she in question probably needed more than just a measurement of time, she needed someone to take a look at her ribs, stop the cut on her cheek from bleeding and probably a host of other medical things Laura had no idea how to do.

So, for now she'd stick with giving her a minute.

Amaya paced anxiously.

"We need to go, get as far away from this portal as possible. We don't have time to sit around. What if she isn't ready in a minute?"

"Then we give her another minute." Laura's felt her voice getting higher but couldn't seem to do anything about it. Instead she kept fiddling with how Carmilla lay across her, as if making her marginally more comfortable would somehow remedy the situation.

"And if she isn't any better then?"

"Then she gets another one!" She snapped, her voice now loud and shrill.

Amaya opened her mouth to reply in a shout of her own but Carmilla chose that moment to start mumbling.

"Wants to... take you away from me."

The world became small again, person sized even.

"Carm? Carm can you hear me? Are you trying to say something? I mean don't try to talk, or do talk if you want to, or if there something I can do, anything at all, um, ah." The babbling poured out like breached dam.

Ragged breaths turned into a rattling laugh and familiar fingers interlocked with her own. Carmilla jerked forwards and with a hacking cough spat out a glob of blood from her mouth. She relaxed back onto Laura's lap and her breathing cleared after a contented sigh. A few more mumbles came out of her but all Laura could make out was 'cupcake' before she fell back into unconsciousness.

But her breathing remained clear and steady, for which Laura could have wept with relief. She kissed the top of Carmilla's head and looked at Amaya calmly.

"Like I said, she needed a minute."

Amaya chewed her lip for a few seconds and then completely lost even the veneer of composure. She stamped on the ground with a hoof and gesticulated wildly.

"What the hell do we do now? They're in my house! A man with a gun is in my house right now! That is where I live, where my children live! We can't go back through this portal, not with that man there and if I can't go back through the portal how do I get back to my kids?"

Laura didn't respond right away, with Carmilla out of it and Amaya panicking it was vital she kept thinking clearly or things could spiral. When she spoke, her words were calm and measured. She doubted the Laura Hollis of even a few months ago could have stayed as calm as this in the kind of situation they were in. She felt a weird sense of pride at the thought.

"He won't stay there, Corvae doesn't care about your house or you, they want the Sarratum. If the portal won't open for a while, then they'll probably pick him up with that helicopter they have. So, you don't have to worry about people in your house okay? That'll be fine and when we get to the Uffizi and find the Sarratum Carm and I will make sure they know we aren't running back to your house. You and your children will be safe I swear."

Amaya looked stunned.

"'When we get to the Uffizi and find the Sarratum'? We have almost been killed twice in one day, a day that isn't even close to being over, your girlfriend is unconscious with God knows what injuries and you're still talking about continuing with a plan that puts you in the crosshairs of incredibly dangerous people who will kill you without a second thought! All to get some artefact you have nothing to do with. What are you doing here girl? Why are you down here risking your life for this?"

Anger welled up in her for a second, particularly to being called girl and the sense she was being talked down to such a term implied. But she bit down on an angry response and went into thought. Amaya barely knew her and on that basis, it was a fair question to ask. What was a young undergrad doing in dark tunnels full of gargoyles, robbing graves guarded by undead skeletons and recklessly throwing herself into life threatening situations over and over again?

A fair question perhaps yes, but for her, one so very easy to answer. She looked down at Carmilla.

"I'm here because she's here. Maybe that's because she wants to the right thing, to stop evil people getting their hands on something powerful. Or maybe she's doing it for herself, to free herself from her past so she'll finally have a chance at happiness. It doesn't matter. What does is that so long as she'll have me, so long as she'll put up with me, she doesn't need to do it alone, as long as I have a say she doesn't have to be alone ever again."

Amaya looked lost for words. Which was good because Laura hadn't finished.

"Oh, and I'm also here because I do care about all the people Corvae could hurt if they get the Sarratum. This past year I've learned some hard lessons, about me, about the world, but there is at least one thing about me that I know is still true, despite everything else that has changed. My name is Laura Eileen Hollis and if I'm still standing, if I can still try, the bad guys don't get to win. Not without a fight."

Her words hung in the air, the only noise being Carmilla's breaths settling back into the familiar purr. Amaya sighed, chuckled lightly and visibly calmed down.

"What do you know, it turns out you really are the hero trying to save the day."

"I'd settle for saving her right now. But I don't have any medical supplies, if we could even just get her some water. My backpack had some stuff but it was brutally murdered yesterday."

"My condolences." Amaya said with raised eyebrows. "Look, I'm not used to danger like it seems you two are, I'm sorry, I lost myself for a few moments there."

Laura spared her a small kind smile.

"It's fine, I'm the one who should apologize, we dumped ourselves on you and now you've almost been killed, your house isn't safe and you're away from your kids. But I'm sorry I'm not going to lie, I could really still use your help, I don't know how to navigate these tunnels and while Carm seems better, I'm terrified she still isn't okay."

Amaya shook her head.

"I said I'd get you to the Uffizi, I haven't done that yet so I'm still with you. I can't help with medical supplies but if I remember right, according to this."

She pulled folded scrap of paper out of a pocket in her shirt.

"There is a room with an underground well not far from here, there is a good chance we could find water there. I doubt it would be dry, it's not like the gargoyles would have been taking from it over the years."

Laura's eyes lit up.

"Thank God, you remembered the map."

Amaya allowed herself a satisfied smile.

"Grabbed it while you went medieval on that asshole in my house. So, how do we do this?"

Laura gestured with her head towards the morning star.

"You take that, the phone and read the map. I'll take Carm."

She lobbed the phone to Amaya and gently brought Carmilla around sideways across her in a cradle. Then, while still cradling Carmilla she lifted herself to her feet.

Amaya whistled at this feat of strength.

"You got a license for those guns, little lady?"

"I do yoga."

If Laura never saw smooth white walls, grey coloured ground and stone petroglyphs that could spring to life at any moment all through a white light of a phone she would be perfectly content. It irked her how familiar feeling this oppressive tunnel system of the late Count Bagucci had become. They made good progress thanks to Amaya's map, though the way the tunnel ahead turned to darkness every time she shined the light down to read it unsettled Laura greatly.

The further they travelled the more elaborate the tunnels got, no longer simply twisty narrow passageways leading to the odd room or chamber, now they passed bedrooms, kitchens, old dusty paintings and a weird dungeon like room which looked suspiciously to Laura like a place for creepy vampire orgies. Amaya however refused to comment on that when Laura brought it up. Count Bagucci really had made quite the elaborate home under the city.

When they moved from a ballroom into another twisty passageway they came across their first petroglyph that was clearly a stone gargoyle. It lay at the end of the passageway, identical to the one in the chamber with the stars.

They both paused and looked at each other.

"It's fine, right?" Laura asked in a whisper, as if the gargoyle could hear them. "You did the spell."

"Yeah, well I mean it seemed to work. I never actually performed the spell myself before so."

"You're just saying this now?" Laura exclaimed, whisper forgotten.

"I'm sure it's fine." Amaya said, mildly defensive.

They approached slowly, searching for any sign of movement.

"Well if the spell didn't work, Sabrina the First-Time Witch. Fighting them is a big no, we tried that before. Maybe we could try sweet talking them. Do you know Ancient Sumerian for 'sweet smelling gargoyle love'?"

"Excuse me?"

Carmilla started mumbling again in her arms. She leaned her head down to hear.

"…op making fun of me."

Laura's heart leapt. It may have been a simple exchange of banter but it meant the world. Carmilla was still there, she only needed some time, Laura was certain of it.

Although they might not have time if the gargoyle ahead decided Amaya's spell wasn't good enough.

They crept closer. The light from the cell phone began to shake, Laura would have given Amaya a hand to steady her but she wasn't going to risk dropping Carmilla even slightly. They got within reaching distance, as close as Laura had gotten to the first one when it attacked. They both held their breaths, only Carmilla kept breathing normally, too busy being mostly unconscious to know what was happening.

The gargoyle stayed immobile.

Laura released her long-held breath.

"See? Nothing to worry about." Amaya said.

They kept moving and without further incident they reached the room with the water well Amaya had promised.

It was definitely the least impressive room thus far. Square shaped with grey discoloured walls rather than the usual white and the ground squelched slightly as they walked across it. Laura realised that the discolouration had been caused be water erosion. The whole room was damp and dank, utterly unwelcoming.

Laura turned to Amaya.

"Okay so this room is terrible, are we sure any water in that well is even drinkable?" She asked with a doubtful look around.

The well in question stood in the centre of the room, it looked basic after the opulence of the previous rooms. A few metres wide circular structure made from brick. A rusted pail with a rope attached lay on its side next to it, along with pieces of a broken wooden beams and what Laura thought looked like the remains of a crank.

"Beggars can't be choosers, it's fine, the well has been leaking is all I'm sure." Amaya strode towards the well as she answered.

"Over the walls? And leaking, is that something wells do? I don't know anything about wells."

"Then stop whining and get your girlfriend some water."

Amaya lowered the pail down with the rope and Laura heard a splash as it hit the water. Laura sat down with Carmilla still cradled next to the well. She sighed gratefully for the rest, Carmilla wasn't large but she had been holding her for quite a while. She tried not to let Carmilla touch the damp ground, not wanting to add getting wet and cold to Carmilla's current hurts.

Amaya brought the pail back up and gave held it out to Laura. Laura cupped some water in her hands and brought it to Carmilla's mouth, who despite still fighting for full consciousness still managed to suck it down greedily. Laura went about cleaning the cut on Carmilla's cheek.

The ministrations continued until when Amaya went to refill the pail, the light from the phone flicked over one of the room's corners and something caught Laura's eye.

"Amaya, did you see that? Are there more pails over there or something? Can you put the light there again?"

Amaya complied and directed the light back into the corner Laura pointed to. They both gasped.

Laura had seen something but it wasn't pails. Instead the light revealed a massive pile of bones from a variety of animals. She saw skeletons of canines, birds, fish and to her horror what looked a lot like humans.

A hissing sound filled the air.

"Okay… so that's two pretty big hints from the horrible room to leave now." Laura said and began lifting Carmilla and herself back up.

Something large came out of the well.

Laura's first impression was of a wriggling black and scaly mass squishing its way up and out of the well. But as the mass got over the well lip it split off into a half dozen large serpentine shapes, each one large enough to dwarf a human and all connected to one slug shaped body. Out of all of their heads forked tongues flicked out constantly and a half dozen pairs of cold black eyes focused on Laura and her companions. The hissing got louder and as Laura and Amaya backed away in shock the horrifying monstrosity exited the well and hit the ground with a sickening splat of wet scales.

The snake heads loomed high over them, their hostile intentions clear. Laura struggled for balance as she tried to quickly get to her feet with Carmilla in her arms. One of the snake heads arched back and struck forwards, opening its jaws to reveal rows of sharp teeth. A field of white knives amidst an otherwise jet black maw. Laura twisted around, trying to put herself between the sharp teeth and Carmilla.

Before it could reach them, its nose exploded into a shower of blood and bone as the morning star made contact thanks to a wild swing from Amaya. The ruined head flew back and landed motionless on its side, tongue lolling out uselessly and spilling great volumes of blood out onto the wet ground.

The other heads paused for a long silent moment, even their forked tongues immobile. The moment passed and the hissing became a loud angry buzz.

"Run." Laura said.


	15. Chapter 15: Laura

The great serpents surged forwards after them as they dashed for the nearest exit.

The remaining heads worked together to move themselves, three threw their weight as far forward as possible while the other two stayed on the ground and undulated in a serpentine fashion. The dead head got dragged along behind. The idealist in her appreciated the perfect teamwork, the part that wanted to live dismayed at the speed that teamwork allowed it to move.

They got through the nearest exit out of the well room and found themselves in yet another passageway. They could hear their pursuers close behind them, though how the heads and body managed to squeeze through the passageway Laura had no idea.

"Is that a Hydra? A literal Hydra? Like an honest to Zeus second labour of Heracles, Hydra is attacking us right now in this tunnel?"

"Yes, that is what's happening, please God, keep running." Amaya responded between pants.

"How is something like that even here? And why the hell haven't the gargoyles attacked it? Isn't a horrifying multi headed giant snake kind of the definition of 'intruder'?"

"I'm guessing it has the same spell of admittance on it that we do."

"Oh, fantastic it's a magic Hydra. Somebody get Nagini back there a letter to Hogwarts!" She felt herself spiralling, even her pop culture reference jokes were getting lame.

They ran through the passageways wildly with little idea of where they would take them, Amaya certainly did not have the inclination to read the map right now. The phone in the Satyr's hand bobbed up and down as she ran, which meant they saw their surroundings in flashes, like a photographer using a camera flash to see at night.

"I don't mean it cast the spell itself, that would be ridiculous." Amaya paused as Laura beside her let out a wild, slightly unhinged laugh. "Count Bagucci probably had it here as a pet."

"Why would you keep something like that as a pet?"

"How should I know? Vampires are weird. I remember my grandfather telling me stories of a menagerie Count Bagucci had down here, it was probably part of that. Beside vampires' love snakes."

She couldn't keep this up much longer, Carmilla felt like she weighed twice as much as she did when Laura had first picked her up. Her arms felt numb and she feared they'd stop functioning completely at any moment. They had to get some distance soon.

"If there used to be a menagerie here then where are all the other creatures?" Despite everything, her inquisitive side refused to be silenced.

"This place has been abandoned for centuries, they probably died of old age or found a way to leave."

"Yeah, or Count Bagucci's adorable pet Hydra ate them all. I can't believe after everything we've been through, we're going to die to the vampire equivalent of Poochie. God, I hate vampires."

Carmilla started mumbling plaintively.

"You don't count you're not a vampire anymore." Laura snapped.

The passageway opened into another circular chamber up ahead. Laura dearly wished that wasn't the case, as fast as the Hydra moved through the narrow passageways she felt certain it would travel faster over more open ground. For the first time since exiting the well room she spared a glance behind her and regretted it instantly.

Amaya noticed her movement and directed the phone light backwards to give her some light. Laura honestly wished she hadn't. Four of the five Hydra heads undulated across each of the walls, the ground and the ceiling, pulling the body through the passageway. The last head leaned forwards out in front, ready to strike as soon as it got close enough. Laura had been in some frightening situations at Silas but nothing she had seen came close to the pure terror of what currently charged towards them. The primitive part of her brain screamed to take over, to panic wildly and she barely clamped down on it.

One last burst of adrenaline filled her body and she charged into the chamber. She noticed the sparkle of many small lights above her and realised wryly that in the mad dash away from the Hydra they had ended up back in the star chamber from their first visit.

She got halfway through it when her arms gave out. She screamed in frustration, it wasn't a matter of fighting through pain, her arms didn't hurt, they simply ceased responding to command. She had to stop running and kneel down to keep Carmilla from spilling out of her grasp and hitting the ground. A blood curdling scream ripped through the air behind her. She turned around to see.

In front of her the foremost Hydra head had gotten close enough to strike, it had clasped its jaws around one of Amaya's furry legs and now it dragged her backwards. In a blink of an eye the head let go of her leg and wrapped her up in its coils.

Despairing and unable to think of anything else to do, Laura kissed Carmilla's forehead and lowered her to the ground. Then coils wrapped around her body and lifted her into the air. After being twisted and turned by the Hydra head that had snatched her she found herself facing the ground as the life got squeezed out of her.

Her thoughts whirred around haphazardly as she tried to process the fact she was about to die. Eventually she settled on the memories of the last three months at the cottage. She dearly wished for more, but at least she had experienced a taste of the happiness being with Carmilla had brought her.

Speaking of Carmilla, Laura dimly noticed that she had begun moving. She crawled towards the morning star Amaya must have dropped when she had been bitten. So focussed on Amaya and herself, the Hydra heads hadn't detected her at all. With shaky hands, Carmilla grasped the morning star and got to her feet. Laura watched as her love staggered over to the Hydra's body and smashed the morning star as hard as she could into it.

The hissing turned into a cacophony of ear piercing screeches. The two heads who held Laura and Amaya uncoiled immediately, dropping them to the ground. Those heads then joined the rest in arching themselves upwards into the air in intense pain.

Upwards high enough to hit the entrance to the chamber's portal to a star filled night sky.

The portal reacted instantly and violently. It pulled and sucked at the Hydra mercilessly like a black hole. The Hydra fought to stay grounded but little by little the portal lifted the monster upwards. The Hydra heads gave out one final chorus of plaintive screeches and in a blink of an eye the Hydra was gone.

The portal closed and without the light from the stars, the chamber went dark.

* * *

Laura remained still on the ground where she had landed after being dropped. She had watched the Hydra's portal induced exit stage left with eyes watering in pain. She had trouble forming a coherent thought immediately after that. How is one supposed to react when a giant multi headed snake gets sucked into a portal to somewhere high up in the air? Wherever the portal currently went, she hoped anyone there looked up in time.

A familiar drawl rang out into the darkness.

"Well don't I feel like a regular hero of antiquity, I should be getting a gift from the Gods anytime now."

She tracked down where the drawl had come from and with great difficulty considering her arms still weren't working, she got to her feet and dashed towards it. That they were in near total darkness was probably for the best, she probably would have looked quite the dork running with her arms useless to her sides in the light.

She barrelled into Carmilla, who barely stayed up and gave out a little 'oomph' at the effort. She wanted to grab her, to hug her and run hands through her hair and down her arms. She couldn't do any of those things right now, so instead she kissed her.

It started sloppily, the darkness making it difficult to find each other properly but after grunting in frustration Carmilla wrapped her arms around Laura's neck and pulled her in. Laura didn't let it stop, she felt such relief at Carmilla being back on her feet and she needed Carmilla to feel every last bit of that emotion. Carmilla for her part didn't seem too interested in stopping either. She began kissing Carmilla's cheeks, forehead, hair, if her hands couldn't get there right now then her lips would have to do.

"Gift gratefully received." Carmilla said, when they finally came apart enough for her to speak.

She picked up one of Laura's numb arms delicately.

"What's the matter with these? Are you okay?"

Laura couldn't help but laugh. Was she okay?

"Yes, just tired. Had to carry you, thought you were hurt but I see now that you were being your lazy self, like I said, never wanting to get off something comfy." She tried to make a joke of it but her voiced cracked halfway through and she sniffed as a small tear rolled down an eye.

Perhaps the sniff tipped her off because Carmilla located the tear immediately, cupping Laura's cheeks and wiping it away with a thumb. Her voice became soft, conciliatory.

"I'm sorry, I can only imagine how scared you must have been. I won't lie, everything hurts right now, I… might not have come off that fight too well but I'm okay, I'm okay."

"You're okay." Laura repeated the words several times, they sounded fantastic.

Another voice floated through the darkness.

"Well I'm glad that you're both fine, guess I can bleed out on the floor in the dark alone with no regrets then."

"Amaya!" Laura exclaimed, not for the first time she had completely forgotten about her. She really had to stop doing that.

The next minutes were spent locating the Satyr in the darkness and once making sure that her leg wound would not be immediately fatal they then crawled around the chamber in an effort to locate Laura's phone.

"From defeating great beasts in grand heroic acts to scrambling around in the dark to find a little piece of mass produced plastic. There is a metaphor for humanity as a whole here." Carmilla grumbled.

"At least you have fully functional arms to search with. Stop complaining." Laura rejoiced at the return of their easy banter.

Either through sheer effort or blind luck they eventually found the phone and acquired light again. They took stock of the situation. They were all utterly dishevelled, Laura's arms shook when she moved them, Amaya's leg had a bleeding bite wound and Carmilla looked like she'd been through a twelve-round boxing match.

The first order of business, Amaya's bleeding leg. It was going to take a sacrifice to remedy.

"Your jacket, Carm."

"No." Carmilla replied for the third time, utterly resolute.

"She is going to bleed out and die."

"Sad things happen from time to time, arbitrary twists of fate, one has to learn to let go and accept the cold random cruelty of the universe we live in."

"Carm!"

"Alright, fine." Carmilla pouted in the white light and took off her black jacket with exaggerated inconsonance. She wrapped it tight around the bleeding leg and tied it together by the sleeves. Not as good as a bandage, but for now good enough to stem the bleeding.

"You owe me a jacket Horny."

"Yes, I'm so grateful, I am very glad you chose my life over a piece of apparel."

They set off again, an ambling Amaya leading in front with the map while Laura and Carmilla trailed behind hand in hand. While they walked, Amaya explained exactly where they were going.

"Right so, you need to get to the Uffizi Gallery but can't do it the regular way as you'll get shot by Corvae."

"Yeah, so we're getting there by a secret entrance to the Gallery from these tunnels." Laura said.

Their surroundings had become lavish again as they got back on track, each room and passageway Amaya lead them through more ornate than the last. The contradiction of the clearly luxurious rooms and their clearly abandoned nature left Laura feeling like she was exploring the wreck of a cruise liner or chasing ghosts in an abandoned manor.

"Well not exactly."

"What?" Laura and Carmilla asked together.

"I said I'd get you to the Uffizi and I can, but there is no secret entrance from these tunnels directly into the Uffizi. But there is an entrance from these tunnels directly up to the Vasari Corridor."

"Bullshit." Carmilla said.

"Vasari Corridor?" Laura looked to Carmilla, even though with the phone's light being directed forwards Carmilla wouldn't be able to see it.

"It's a passageway built over the top of a bunch of buildings and that old bridge, the Vecchio." Carmilla explained. "It goes from some palace I don't remember all the way to the Uffizi. But like I said it's on top of buildings, elevated. We are deep underground, a secret entrance from here to there doesn't make any sense."

Amaya lead them through a door with golden handles in the shape of snarling snakes. As soon as the door opened the room beyond it lit up from a number of lamps along the walls bursting into life.

The lamps revealed a bedroom. The colours of the room differed considerably from the rest of tunnel complex, warm browns in the place of stark whites and blacks. To their left, lay a collection of cabinets lined up against the wall, all ornate but clearly emptied of whatever they once held. To their right, a fireplace had brought itself to life much like the lamps, in front of it a rug fit for a king.

Though to Laura's exhausted body, most enticing was the King-sized bed on the left at the back of the bedroom.

"Wow." Laura mumbled. "Guess we're three for three this trip."

Carmilla snorted, getting the joke Amaya couldn't.

"I give you Count Bagucci's private bedroom. Exactly where the map said it would be and if you look there," she pointed with her finger, "something much more useful for what you two are trying to do."

Laura followed the pointing finger and realized she'd missed something on her scan of the room. On the right-hand side of the room at the back was some kind of structure she had trouble working out at first. The wall had been cut out into a hollow circular shape and on the ground some kind of round metal platform lay inside it. Above the platform, the structure continued upwards, how far Laura could not see.

"Is that an elevator?"

"Yep." Amaya said. "My grandfather got to take it once, it's amazing seeing all these things with my own eyes. Like a story coming to life."

"Where does it go?" Carmilla asked.

"The Vasari Corridor." Amaya answered as if it were obvious. "The part above the Ponte Vecchio specifically. One of the bridge's piers was secretly hollowed out, held together by magic and this elevator was built inside it. The idea being that Count Bagucci could enter the Pitti Palace or the Uffizi whenever he liked from the comfort of his own bedroom."

"Bridge's piers…wait! Are we under the river right now?" Laura asked, half in wonder and half in worry.

Amaya smiled and nodded.

"Taken a while longer than I thought when I first said I could help you but here we are. A way into the Uffizi without any Corvae getting a shot at you."

Laura hugged her with shaking arms.

"Thank you so much. I don't know what we would have done without your help."

The Satyr accepted her hug and squeezed her back.

"It was my pleasure, well not really, this whole thing has been awful, but I'm glad I helped you. I haven't known you very long but I can already tell you're one of the good ones Laura Hollis. Heroes don't often cross your path in the real world, how could I not take the chance to help one, okay fine two, in need?"

She nodded to Carmilla and ambled to the door.

"You said earlier that the Corvae man would leave by some helicopter. Meaning he isn't in these tunnels and he isn't in my home. I'm going to trust you on that and get back to my children."

"He won't stay at the house. If Laura said that she was right to, he'd be gone by now and he doesn't care about you at all." Carmilla stated this with complete certainty.

Laura needed to ask her exactly what had happened in that house as soon as possible.

Amaya nodded. She gestured to the phone still in her hand.

"I'm going to take this if you're okay with that? You have plenty of light in here." When Laura said yes, she continued. "One last piece of advice, it's probably best to wait until night to go sneaking in, you know, less people and all that. Good luck to both of you, maybe come to my house sometime if you can find it. Preferably not by the hole in my spare room next time."

She chuckled and ambled off into back into the dark. Laura hoped that this wouldn't be the final time they saw her.

* * *

Laura continued looking into the darkness of the passageway well after Amaya had left. She didn't know the Satyr well but she felt invested in Amaya getting back to her children. Amaya had helped them immensely at great personal risk, if she didn't make it back to her children Laura was unsure if she would be able to forgive herself for involving her in their affairs. The possibility of the young Satyr kids she had found so adorable being without their mother too horrible to think about.

She wished they could see her safely home but it wasn't practical, they couldn't find their way back to the bedroom without her and they were still racing against time, they had no idea how close Okoye and her Corvae goons were to finding the Sarratum. She made a mental note to check up on the Satyr and her family as soon as this was over.

"Fantastic, thought she'd never leave." She said lightly, trying to make a joke of her concerns.

"Agreed." Carmilla said.

Hands gently spun her around and brought her close into a kiss. She responded to it immediately and deepened it while her body loosened and melted into Carmilla's. The reaction was instinctive, when Carmilla kissed her she kissed back, only after a few seconds did her brain fully catch up with what was happening. Once that happened logical Laura Hollis started screaming again. God, she could be annoying, even if she usually had important things to say.

"Carm, wait." She broke the kiss but stayed close, nose to nose and breathing the same air. "We need to talk. You need to tell me what happened in that house, I don't think that guy was regular Corvae. He was saying something to you that I didn't really understand and he was alone, which is super weird considering all the goons they seem to have. What happened exactly when I, mmmn"

Carmilla stifled the questions with another deep kiss and Laura struggled to hold firm to her objections. She didn't want to talk, she wanted what Carmilla wanted, what her body was telling her she wanted. When Carmilla held her cheeks with soft hands, she sank into them.

"We will talk, I'll tell you everything I swear." Carmilla's words and eyes radiated sincerity. "This isn't me being secretive or evasive. I will tell you everything, no secrets, never with you. But first this, we almost died, we need this, I need you."

Carmilla's words settled the matter. Logical Laura Hollis satisfied for now.

She leaned back in, her heart fluttering happily like it always did in times like these with Carmilla. Nuzzling Carmilla's neck, she began planting sucking and biting kisses from one side to the other. Carmilla hummed in approval and when the lovely trip around her neck had finished, her mouth had curved into a joyful smile.

They were in a room with a roaring fireplace and flaming lamps but only now did she feel heat. It emanated off of them both, Carmilla's face looked as flush as hers felt.

Well, there was only one way to deal with heat.

Her arms still shook but Carmilla didn't have any problems helping her out, at least Carmilla didn't rip anything off, she didn't have any other clothing and having to search the Uffizi naked didn't appeal. Carmilla undressed slowly, piece by piece with long pauses in between she filled with such lovely things.

Time began to flow in a haze, exhaustion from the day and pleasure from the moment lulling them both into a something of a fugue. All that mattered to Laura was the next place she could kiss and touch Carmilla or the next place Carmilla would touch her. She felt certain Carmilla's state of mind was similar.

"I love you, I love you so much." Carmilla gasped out at some point, was it when they had rolled into the bed, or after that, when Laura had her head between Carmilla's thighs? Laura couldn't quite keep track of such things anymore.

They ended up lying on the rug next to the fire place, holding each other contentedly with the bed's blanket haphazardly covering their legs but nothing else. The possibility of getting cold not occurring to either of them as sweat dripped from their hair onto a rug worth more than Laura's entire tuition.

"I love you, too." Laura said. Finally remembering to respond to something Carmilla may have said an hour ago, for all she could recall.

They relaxed in front of the fire. Exhausted, beaten up and soon to head off into more danger. But for now at least, safe and together.


	16. Chapter 16: Laura

The Bianchi Negozio Locale

"Yes, thank you, I understand completely that to do so any sooner would be problematic. Corvae will be very appreciative and I will be sure to tell them that it was you, who personally helped me with this matter. Goodbye Mr Giordano."

Okoye slammed the phone onto the table in front of her, startling the Corvae techies around her. She ignored them and rubbed at her eyes as she sank back into her wooden chair. She tried to convince herself that she couldn't have done any better and that in the end, after round clock phone calls, her talent for persuasion and admittedly a great deal of Corvae money she had ultimately gotten what she wanted, or at least as close to it as she could have hoped.

More importantly, she had gotten it done before the brute had come back to wreak yet more havoc.

Only barely, she realized as she heard the unmistakable sounds of Gustav's powerful footsteps up the stairs. The Corvae techies scattered, like ants from giant boots, towards the other side of the room. Okoye had to admit they did well to make it seem that they had important business with whatever equipment was furthest away from the stairs. She could always appreciate a good bluff, especially when serf perseveration was involved.

When he appeared at the top of the stairs, Gustav looked unchanged from when he had left a day ago. This struck Okoye as peculiar, she had spent the day mostly on the phone and she felt and knew she looked, deeply fatigued from it. Yet Gustav, who as far as she knew, had been searching for Hollis and Karnstein non-stop and had somehow ended up near the Apennine Mountains of all places, looked as fresh as ever. How was that possible?

Gustav spread his arms out gregariously when he saw her.

"Bolade Okoye, my hero. Good job on getting me back to Florence, you can follow simple instructions after all. And now that I am back, you can relax now. I'll take it from here."

Okoye blinked, uncertain what he meant by that exactly. She covered it up with another one of her confident smiles she had perfected over the years.

"Well, I'm glad we found you and that you're so happy with me. Perhaps you'll be even happier when I tell you the good news."

Gustav raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"After great effort on my part, we will have access to the Uffizi Gallery. Full access, the gallery will be closed in a couple of days' time and only Corvae will be allowed in until we find the Sarratum. I thank for your efforts, but I doubt we will need your particular services in this matter anymore, all you would be doing is providing security and I'm sure a man of your talents would better serve Corvae elsewhere."

Gustav grinned amicably. Okoye felt a burst of terror as he reached over and patted her on the shoulder. A bear pawing casually at something it could tear apart without effort.

"Good job, Okoye, well done. But I'm afraid that's not going to work for me."

Okoye blinked again and she had to paste the smile to keep it in place.

"I don't quite understand. Your part in this is done. You can stay if you like, but Corvae put me in charge-"

"Yes, and that was fine with me up and till now. But going forwards, I think you're only going to get in the way. Probably be best for you to leave."

Despite his warm gestures and happy tone of voice, Okoye couldn't help but feel a tingle down her spine, as if the situation had turned very dangerous without her realizing until now. She couldn't meekly surrender without a fight though, she stood her ground.

"No, I think it would be best for you to leave. I have everything under control now, despite the chaos you've caused. Like I said, Corvae put me in charge and it was for this exact reason."

"Yes, they did it to keep me in check right? You should have seen the big boys and girls in charge, the little gears in their heads turning. They wanted their shiny toy and they knew I was their best chance of getting it. But can you trust the beast to not go wild in a 'civilized' place like Florence? What a dilemma, ultimately greed won out as always, well, that and me telling them all I'd be a good boy as many times as I had to."

He strode into the repurposed bedroom, scattering the techies yet again. He returned after a moment with another black armour vest in his hands. Okoye noticed a large crack in the back of the one he was wearing. Gustav winced as he pulled it off. The wince emboldened her. Apparently he wasn't invincible after all.

"It was a mistake on their part. You've done nothing but impede me at every turn. I'd have the Sarratum by now if it wasn't for you."

Gustav barked out a laugh as he finished putting on the new vest.

"If only you knew how true that last part is."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Gustav ignored her and began taking out crates of weapons and equipment from the bedroom and into the living turned operation room. When he spoke again, Okoye thought it to be as much to himself as to her.

"I didn't believe it when I first saw it, all of it. Mircalla turning her back on her family for that interloping child, even after it cost us Rook, that Inanna would be so weak as to let that same child take her beloved school away from her, not once but twice. It couldn't be real, none of it made any sense."

Okoye struggled to make sense of this.

"You're not here for the Sarratum, you have some personal vendetta with Hollis and Karnstein is that it?"

He gave a start, as if he'd forgotten she was there.

"I've ordered my guys to storm the Uffizi tonight. Hollis and Karnstein aren't waiting a couple of days. So, unless you learned how to use a gun in the last few hours, it is your services that are no longer required."

Her jaw dropped slightly and she took a few moments to fully process the first sentence of what he had said.

"Have you lost your mind? Storming the Uffizi is an insane option, if you think Hollis and Karnstein will try to get into the gallery tonight, we can stop them before they even enter the building. We have cameras everywhere and a helicopter. They can't get near it without us knowing."

"They'll find a way in, Mircalla is smart and the interloper is cunning. Who cares how, through those tunnels maybe. They'll be in the Uffizi tonight that's for certain. So I will be there to."

"No! I have authority here and I am saying no. You're insane, I don't know what the deal is between you and those women and I don't care. I can't believe Corvae thought sending you here was a good idea, you're a lunatic."

The words sounded powerful and confident in her head but as they came out she could hear the shrillness in them.

Gustav started rummaging through the crates he had moved.

"Seeing it through a screen wasn't enough, it didn't feel real. I decided to go to Silas, to see for myself. I found the dorm room, Inanna's master bedroom and the pit under the Lustig where it had all ended. It hit me fully then, became real. Inanna was gone and the family I had worked so hard to become part of broken."

He picked up one of the weapons in the crate and snapped it in two.

"I told myself that I'd fix it. That I'd bring my family back together and that the person responsible for breaking it in the first place would meet a fate that would form the terror of every child's nightmares across the world. And anyone who tried to stop me would meet a similar fate."

He turned his head towards Okoye, his hazel eyes locked onto her own.

"Are you going to try and stop me, Okoye?"

Terror filled her. She could see her life balanced on a knife's edge, only one thought penetrated the fear in her mind.

She had to get away from this man.

She backed away slowly and jumped when she hit the table behind her. She raced to the stairs and charged down them, heart pounding in her ears.

When she made it out and onto the street, she didn't stop running.

* * *

Laura kept her eyes closed and listened to the twin sounds of the crackling fire next to her and Carmilla's contented purrs. She felt Carmilla's body on top of her, head rested peacefully on her chest. When she focused solely on those sounds and the warmth of Carmilla and the fire, Laura found it easy to forget where she really was. It didn't feel much different from their cottage, smile, despite it being the bedroom of a dead vampire, situated deep underground in a long abandoned tunnel complex.

She enjoyed pretending they were back in the cottage for a while as she lay with her back on the expensive rug, forgetting the terrors of what had transpired before and the clear danger still ahead of them. Fortunately for the sake of her own sanity, she had managed to make Carmilla's smiling face the image she saw when she closed her eyes, rather than the horror of the pursuing Hydra heads chasing them through the tunnels. That helped a lot, although, she doubted a psychologist would be very impressed by the straight up, textbook repression going on in her mind right now.

Perhaps she would end up with a snake phobia when this was all over. Then all she would need is a whip and a hat to complete the adventurer archetype, she already had the 'be on a quest to recover an ancient artefact' part covered.

She sighed and opened her eyes, as nice as this had been they needed to get moving soon. There was no way to tell the time where they were, but it must have been hours since Amaya had left. The bedroom's fireplace and wall lamps still burned brightly, basking the room in a warm coloured light. She tried to look around, but that turned out to be difficult without knocking her chin into the top of Carmilla's head. Instead, she ran her fingers through Carmilla's hair and gently prodded her awake with some softly spoken words.

Waking a slumbering cat could be hard work. At Amaya's house, Carmilla had woken immediately after Laura did, but this time she took some convincing. Either Carmilla considered this old vampire's bedroom safer than Amaya's storage room or it was a sign of how much she needed rest after her fight with the mysterious Corvae goon. Laura thought it more likely to be the latter and cursed the need to cut that rest short.

Eventually, after many groans and even a deep kiss, used as a last ditch effort to stop Laura from making noise, Carmilla woke up. Her eyes narrowed at Laura in irritation for a long moment, before.

"You're lucky you're cute."

Laura grinned and nodded slightly.

"Sorry, but it must be getting close to dark now, if it isn't already, it's hard to tell down here in Count Bagucci's underground city of fun. I think I hate tunnels pretty much forever now, I'm never taking a subway ever again."

Carmilla stayed on top of her, apparently unwilling to budge yet. She looked down at Laura, the expression in her eyes suggesting she was more than happy them to stay like this for the moment.

Laura noticed the empty bed behind Carmilla. It looked like a tiny bomb had gone off on it, sheets and pillows strewn all over.

"Probably would have been smarter to have slept there, I mean, I had the nice rug, that I'm genuinely planning on finding a way to take with us, to sleep on, but you…"

Carmilla's eyes dropped down mischievously to Laura's chest and she smiled coyly.

"I found something soft to sleep on just fine."

Laura let out a giggle despite herself. She reached out her hands and tangled fingers through Carmilla's hair again while preparing herself for the conversation they needed to have.

"Carm, what happened in that house and who was that Corvae guy?"

Carmilla took a breath and nodded. She rolled off Laura and lay on her side, her head resting on one arm as the other wrapped around Laura's body to hold her close.

Carmilla then proceeded to recap everything to her. That the Corvae man who had ambushed her called himself Gustav, that he apparently believed himself to have been in a relationship with Inanna, his goal of bringing Carmilla back to 'family' as he saw it and finally his vendetta against Laura, who he perceived to be the cause for all his current ills.

"You were right. Okoye didn't set us up, it was Gustav. He put those messages on your videos for us to find, after he got Pisano to steal the Sarratum from the auction. It was all him."

"Wow." This had been the best she could muster outside of general expressions of shock and confusion as Carmilla talked.

"Yeah," Carmilla agreed. "I had the same reaction. But now I've had some time to think on it, it's not as implausible as it sounds. Mother always had a talent for manipulation. The idea that she loved this guy is insane, but the idea that she got him to think she did, that I can believe. Just another tool for her plans, she probably completely forgot about him as things got heated up at Silas."

Carmilla grimaced.

"It's like she had this web, a web that only she could see fully. Now that she's gone, the web's broken but its strands remain. Gustav, I think he's one of those strands, an attack dog, something she could send out to destroy anything or anyone she wanted gone. But he's off the leash, gone rabid and it's us that have to deal with it."

She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling with anger in her eyes and on her face. Her voice rose and echoed around the bedroom and past the half shut door down the tunnels.

"I guess we'll have to deal with all the shit you forgot about, Mother. You made it seem like such a big favour you were doing for me, in leaving. Some favour, when you leave stuff like the Sarratum just lying around, let your rabid dog off his leash to go after us… leave the woman I love dead in my arms. Thanks for nothing."

The last few words came out in a choke, her voice becoming raw.

Laura reacted to that instinctively. She put a hand to Carmilla's cheek and kept it there.

"I'm sorry. I hate that you have to keep thinking about your Mother because of all this. I know more than anything else, you want to be free of her."

Carmilla went back to lying on her side to face Laura. She clasped both her hands around the arm Laura had extended.

"More than anything else, I want to be with you. He wants to take you away from me. After everything that's happened, he wants to take you away. I don't fear anything else he's trying to do. The family is gone and despite his delusions he was never a part of it, nor ever could have been. There is nothing to put back together. But you, he could hurt you, that's the one part of his insane plan that he can succeed in."

She moved her hands from around Laura's arm to around her neck.

"I wish I could ask you to stay down here in this bedroom, where it's safe, let me take care of the rest. But I know what your answer would be, so I won't do that. Instead, I want you to know that those months at that cottage with you, were the happiest of my whole life. I can't lose you now, I won't."

Laura leaned in and kissed her. She honestly couldn't think of any other response even remotely adequate.

"We can do this," she whispered. "We've beaten so much already, we can beat this delusional douche face and his dumb goons."

Carmilla smiled at that and kissed her cheek.

They picked themselves up and found their clothes scattered around the room. They really needed something new to wear, it wouldn't be too long until her top and pants resembled a homeless person's rags. It was a shame that Count Bagucci's bedroom seemed to have been ransacked before being abandoned At least her arms had stopped shaking, so she didn't need any help putting them on. As they got dressed Carmilla had questions of her own.

"So what happened with you and Horny in that forest she talked about? Was that 'neighbour' legit?"

Laura felt herself going red and turned away.

"Oh, yeah, fine, they were fine. Everything about it was fine, nothing of interest to report there. Just dropped the baby goat satyrs off and left, no reason to remember it or talk about it or burn down anything. Yep, all fine."

She ignored Carmilla's raised eyebrows.

After she got dressed Carmilla inspected the morning star. Apparently that inspection didn't go well, as she scowled and dropped it to the ground.

"It's busted, probably wasn't made with hitting giant snake creatures in mind. A ball on the end of a stick would probably be as useful at this point."

"Such a shame, you two were getting so close." Laura said through a smirk, though the news did disappoint her. The weapon had ended up being the difference between life and death more than once. It seemed a shame to lose it now.

All dressed and ready to go, they stood in front of the circular platform that Amaya had promised would take them to a passageway leading to the Uffizi and hopefully, the Sarratum.

Neither moved for a long moment, the bedroom felt so enticing compared to the clear dangers ahead and clearly neither really felt up to leaving. Their hands were intertwining again and Laura felt her heart beating faster.

Carmilla spoke.

"So what do you want to do later?"

The tone was light and casual. It broke the tension and Laura laughed.

"You know, I could really go for some ice cream later. Wasn't any at the cottage and the library never materialized any, it was mostly cupcakes. Oh, and before that, the school ran out around when Vordenberg took over, so… Oh my God, I haven't had ice cream for over half a year."

Carmilla chuckled next her.

"We'll have to fix that. Cookies and cream?"

"Of course, I'll get you a vanilla one covered in that chocolate topping that goes solid, like magic. Hard dark exterior hiding a soft, lovely centre, if there is an ice cream more you, I can't think of it."

"Three centuries worth of experiences and you boil my entire personality down to an ice cream flavour and a cliched one at that. You're killing me, Hollis."

Laughing and holding hands, they stepped on to the platform. It reacted immediately, pulling itself upwards via some unseen force.

They kept their minds off the danger the platform was taking them into by cracking more jokes and planning a hypothetical extended stay in Florence as it moved ever upwards.

Once the platform reached the top, the Uffizi awaited.

* * *

The platform moved silently upwards. Wall lamps, like the ones from the bedroom, sprang to life one by one when the platform passed them and for this Laura was grateful. Without them the feeling of moving upwards without noise and in total darkness probably would have been quite unnerving. Even so, she kept glancing ahead, unable to rid herself of the ludicrous image of Carmilla and her getting squashed if the platform didn't lead to some kind of exit and instead lifted them straight into a solid surface.

She opened her mouth to voice such concerns but as she did so the ground opened up above them. It revealed little but darkness, though at least that meant they were right about it being night outside, Laura made out what looked to her like a ceiling of a room of some kind but nothing more.

"Whew, just when I was getting worried about becoming a sandwich." Carmilla said.

At least she wasn't the only one who had been anxious.

The platform reached its destination.

They were in a long, rectangular shaped corridor with small square windows along each side. It was still dark, but now they were in the corridor proper, the windows let in enough moonlight for them to see well enough. Along the ceiling were switched off lights and as well as windows, the walls were full of paintings and busts.

They stepped off the platform together and onto a floor that felt like hard, polished wood. The platform reacted immediately again, descending back down. As it did so, the wooden ground closed over the opening and in a blink of an eye it was as if there had never been an opening at all.

Laura walked up to the closest window and peered out. The window looked out over one side of the Arno River. Laura could see more bridges in the distance and a few boats on the river itself. When she looked down, she recognized the features of the Ponte Vecchio from their previous visit, this time illuminated by artificial lights instead of the Florentine sun.

"Amaya was right, we're on the Ponte Vecchio, well above it sort of." She said.

"Yeah, come to this window, you can see where the corridor goes." Carmilla stood at a window on the opposite side.

Her footsteps echoed through the corridor as she moved, she hoped nobody was around to hear them.

When she reached the window, Laura followed Carmilla's pointing finger.

"See? The corridor turns right at the end of the bridge and then runs across the bank of the river, then it connects to the Uffizi. You can see some of the gallery from here."

It was as Carmilla described. The corridor, easily marked out with its arched orange brick roof, went right from the bridge over the top many open arches next to the river. Eventually the corridor turned away from the river and into another building. From there Laura would have to trust Amaya and Carmilla's words that it would eventually connect to the Uffizi. Carmilla pointed out the small part of the gallery you could see from the bridge, a rectangular shaped structure overlooking the river.

"That's the little corridor or passageway that connects the two big ones. The gallery is shaped like a U, so think of that corridor as the bottom part of that U. The Vasari Corridor connects to the Eastern Corridor, wait no, the western one, yeah somewhere along the western one."

"You sure about that, tour guide Karnstein?" Laura smirked as she asked the question.

"Leave me alone, it's been like two hundred years since I last visited."

They moved along the corridor and a brisk pace, moving past more wonderful moonlit pieces of art and windows promising breathtaking views of the city. That hypothetical extended stay in Florence now included a legal daytime visit to the Uffizi and the Vasari Corridor, one she would endeavour to go as slow as possible through.

After a few turns they reached a straight path to a closed double door, the quantity of art pieces increased dramatically the closer to it they got.

"That has to be the door to the gallery." Carmilla said.

When they reached the doors Carmilla pushed them open.

If it were a movie, finally reaching the Uffizi after going through the challenges they had would call for a grand sweeping shot of the place along with the swelling of music. It wasn't, so instead the door opened into a dark and silent rectangular corridor without incident.

"Well, we got here, go team us." Laura said.

"Yep."

"Cool beans," and when Carmilla didn't respond, "Well, alright then, let's go find Aku Aku's evil blue and gold brother."

The 'Western Corridor' went a ways to their left. Laura could make out open doorways on its left side to what she had to guess were separate art collections. To their right, the corridor linked to the smaller passageway Carmilla had pointed out to her earlier. Large glass windows all along the entire structure allowed her to see that the smaller passageway connected to an identical and parallel corridor to the one they were in.

From those same windows, she could see there was another level underneath them and a rectangular shaped courtyard below that, at ground level.

"Looks like we're on the second floor, didn't Pisano say that he hid the Sarratum on this level?"

Carmilla nodded.

Laura swivelled to her left and right, taking in the breadth of the place.

"There… seems to be quite a lot of stuff on the second floor."

Carmilla bit her bottom lip.

"Yeah, there's, quite a bit."

"After the Corvae goons and gargoyles and skeletons and a… Hydra, kinda forgot about the whole, needing to work out where slimy thief guy hid the Sarratum exactly."

Carmilla exhaled a big sigh and stretched her arms languidly.

"This might take a while."

"Oh boy, this is gonna get real embarrassing if instead of Corvae killing us, we just get arrested because we can't find the stupid mask before the place opens ag- Hey! Who is that?"

A lone figure moved along the small passageway towards the other corridor. Laura could see them through the windows. They were crouched as they moved, clearly trying to stay concealed.

Carmilla followed her gaze and set off on a loping run in the figures direction without a word. Laura followed with a run of her own.

"Hey, wait!"

Three sets of running footsteps echoed all around the dark moonlit gallery. Up ahead of her, the figure had tried to dash away from Carmilla but had only managed to get to the end of the smaller corridor before being caught. By the time Laura caught up, Carmilla had the person pressed up against the wall by their throat. Carmilla snarled at them as they choked out what words they could manage.

"Please…please, it's not what it looks like, you don't understand, gak… please don't kill me."

Laura realized who they were.

"Bolade Okoye?"

* * *

Okoye looked dramatically different from their first encounters with the woman, her normally immaculate suit was crumpled and creased, she had puffs under her eyes indicating a lack of sleep and she sweated profusely. To be fair to her, she was currently being pinned by her throat to a wall by a snarling Carmilla, but she did not look her best.

Her struggles were feeble and soon she didn't have any oxygen left for pleading. Carmilla didn't seem to care much about this and Laura, concerned, placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Okay Carm, you got her. You can let her breathe, she's not going anywhere."

It took some more gentle prodding but Carmilla acquiesced, she released the pressure on Okoye's throat but remained threateningly close, clearly ready to go right back to strangling at any time.

Okoye sucked in huge rattling breaths between heavy coughs, one hand on her throat and the other on her chest as she did so. She tried to choke out some words.

"Thank… you."

Laura crossed her arms and shot for 'stern and imperious' as her facial expression.

"What are you doing here? Wait, scratch that, that's obvious. Better question, why are you in here alone?"

"Where are your Corvae friends?" Carmilla added. The question was said in part English, part growl.

Okoye coughed one final time before answering.

"I'm alone, I swear. I'm not with Corvae."

Carmilla gave a short derisive laugh.

"Oh, I see, you're not with Corvae. I guess we should disregard the time you pointed a gun at us and said 'I'm with Corvae'." She shoved Okoye hard in the chest. "Where are Gustav and his goons?"

Okoye blanched visibly in response to the shove, she clearly didn't have much love for physical confrontation. The coolly confident demeanour to the point of arrogant smugness seemed to have been completely excised from the woman. Instead she seemed strung out and on the point of a complete breakdown. Memories of Pisano at the Mercato Delle Pucci rose unbidden in her mind.

"I meant I'm not with Corvae anymore. I don't know where they are, but I do know they'll be here soon. I was supposed to be in charge, but this Gustav guy, he's completely insane, he was going to kill me. I had to get out of there. He's definitely in charge now and he said he was coming here tonight. Look, please you have to listen, we don't have much time, he could arrive any moment now. We want the same thing."

Laura and Carmilla looked at her incredulously.

Okoye swallowed and more sweat dripped off her head.

"Okay, no, no we don't want the same thing. But we all don't want something to happen and that's Corvae getting the Sarratum."

"But the whole reason you came here was to get the Sarratum for Corvae." Laura said.

"I never wanted Corvae to get the Sarratum. Even before Gustav threatened to kill me, I came here to get the Sarratum for myself, not for Corvae."

"What?" Laura and Carmilla said together.

Okoye took another breath and sagged against the wall.

"I have my own reasons for wanting the Sarratum. You have both been away from the world for months, I'm not sure if you have been watching the news lately. The place I'm from, Kinshasa, that's Congo in case you don't know, isn't… doing very well. I won't go into details, it's always the same story with these things anyway, but the crux of it is that war is likely, very likely. My family still lives there, friends, people I grew up with. I haven't spoken to them in years but."

"You think you can use the Sarratum to stop it, you were planning on stealing it from Corvae this whole time." Laura said.

Okoye nodded.

"I thought that it would be easy once I got the assignment. All I had to do was show up at that auction, buy it with Corvae's money and then I'd disappear before finding my way back to Congo. But then some gutter trash thief stole it and ruined everything. At least until we got wind of the messages he left on your videos. I thought I could still salvage things by getting you two to meet him and buy it off him. But the board got anxious and sent Gustav to handle things in case the situation got violent. From there, well I think you know the rest."

"Pisano didn't send those messages, it was Gustav." Laura said. "He got Pisano to steal the Sarratum and then he sent the messages to get us here, in Florence. This whole thing was set up by him from the start."

Okoye processed this for a second, before spitting on the ground.

"That goddamn bastard." She said simply.

Despite this new information, Carmilla's hostility remained.

"You thought you could use Mother's mask to save lives?" She asked, incredulous. "Mother's shit doesn't work like that, it has never worked like that with her. Do you have any idea how dangerous the Sarratum is?"

Okoye eyes flashed in anger and for the first time her fear seemed to recede.

"Dangerous? What, you mean like a civil war dangerous? What is the worst that could happen, lots of people dying? That's going to happen anyway! So you two can perform spells, summon Death Gods and do all manner of supernatural things to achieve your ends, but I can't use this object to try and save my family? Who put you two in charge of such things? What were you two going to do instead, destroy it? So Laura Hollis can congratulate herself on being the great hero or Carmilla Karnstein can get some kind of symbolic revenge against a mother who doesn't even exist in this dimension anymore?"

The words hit Laura hard and she wasn't sure how to respond. Okoye had aimed at a raw spot in attacking her perceived righteousness. After Silas, she was always going to be sensitive to arguments over whether she was really doing the right thing, no matter how heroic it might seem on the surface.

Carmilla, on the other hand, remained unfazed.

"Yeah, you don't get to come to us, drag us into a situation where we almost die multiple times with complete lies and then play the morality card with me. You're a snake. And to answer your questions, the Sarratum is far more dangerous than any war, so yes, we're absolutely going to destroy it. Not to mention I'd never want to entrust its power to anyone, especially someone like you."

The sound of glass shattering and running boots came from below.

The colour drained from Okoye's face.

"They're here. You have to take me with you, they'll kill me if they see me here, I'm sure of it."

Laura went to the nearest window and looked down. Dark figures were moving quickly across the courtyard.

"She's right, it's Corvae. Well, unless there is another group of darkly dressed people who decided to break into the Uffizi tonight."

Carmilla shook her head.

"She's not coming with us. Corvae or not, she lied to us and put us in danger. She'll also sell us out first opportunity she gets if she thinks it will help her get the Sarratum."

"I was going to let you both go." Okoye said desperately. "In the alleyway, I meant what I said, I didn't want you both to die, I could have shot you but I didn't, I only wanted the Sarratum. I never meant either of you any harm."

Laura put a hand on Carmilla's shoulder, gentle, but insistent.

"They're going to kill her. We can't just leave her behind."

Carmilla turned to her, a hard expression on her face.

"I think I know where the Sarratum is!" Okoye said wildly. If there weren't armed goons in the building she probably would have been shouting. "I have a theory about where in the Uffizi Pisano hid it, do you? Help me and we can find it together."

Carmilla began turning to Okoye, but Laura wrapped her arms around Carmilla's neck and guided her back to facing her. She caught Carmilla's eyes before speaking.

"Carm, whatever she's done, whatever she deserves, we don't leave people to die. That isn't us. That's not what we do."

Carmilla closed her eyes and touched her forehead to Laura's. She turned to Okoye.

"Fine, but you tell us where you think the Sarratum is now and then we take you with us. That's the only deal you get, so start talking."

Okoye nodded vigorously.

"Yes, absolutely, I am almost certain it's-"

The sound of running boots became much louder to their left, down the larger corridor running parallel with the one they had entered into from the Vasari. Like that one, it had windows all along one side and rooms with art collections on the other.

At the end of the corridor, two dark figures holding guns appeared. When they saw the three of them, they began shouting loudly in Italian and brought up their weapons to aim.

Carmilla grabbed Laura's arm.

"Time to go."

They started running back down the smaller connecting passageway, Okoye yelped and followed behind. The yelling increased and sounds like muffled firecrackers filled her ears. The glass windows shattered and Laura realized belatedly they were being shot at.

The shots seemed sporadic, infrequent. Laura didn't know much of anything about guns but she was pretty sure they could fire faster. She wasn't going to complain though and after a headlong dash they made it back into the Western Corridor.

Carmilla lead them into the first room they saw, smashing through the door into a dark, square and mostly empty room. On the other side of it an open entryway appeared to lead into further rooms.

Carmilla went to shut the door, but before she could Okoye hurtled through, knocking Carmilla back slightly. Thanks to the glass windows, Laura could see through the doorway not only into their corridor but the parallel corridor the two Corvae goons had appeared in. A window shattering in the parallel corridor caught Laura's eye. With a start, she realized she could see a glint of a gun.

If she could see that, there was no reason why the Corvae goon who held that gun couldn't see them and in particular Carmilla, who had started shutting the door again.

"Carm!" She shouted and desperately dived forwards into her.

She heard the sounds of another muffled gunshot and glass breaking. Her dive connected and drove Carmilla against the wall. Laura kicked at the door and it slammed shut.

She breathed a sigh of relief, safe for the moment. She heard a drop of liquid hit the ground near her. Sweat, she assumed. She really needed new clothes. Soon the ones she had would be more sweat than fabric at this rate.

She got off Carmilla and backed away to get both Carmilla and Okoye, the latter of which was panting hard, in her eye line. She started to ask what they thought they should do next, when she got hit with a wave of dizziness. She tried to bring a hand up to her head to steady herself but when she did, her arm roared in pain. More drops hit the ground.

" **Laura**!" Carmilla shouted.

Its loudness irritated her. Yes the situation was dire, but she needed a second.

"What?" She managed to snap before Carmilla enveloped her and guided her down against one of the walls.

Carmilla fussed over her, the touches were gentle and focussed on her left arm, the one that had hurt so much before. Actually, not just before, now it throbbed terribly.

"It's going to be fine, okay. You're going to be fine." Carmilla repeated this and words like it over and over.

She looked down at her left arm.

The first thing that registered was her upper arm had a hole in it. Her arm had a hole in it. The second thing that registered was the great quantity of blood coming out of that hole. Lastly, it really hurt a lot.

"Oh." She said.

The sounds of shouting and running boots raged on, getting closer. Laura got a sense of déjà vu. Didn't they already do the running away from bad guys with guns thing?

"Look, I'm sorry she's hurt, but they're coming and we have to go." Okoye said, looking to Carmilla.

Carmilla stiffened. Laura watched her face as she seemed to think hard on something. She nodded, clearly coming to a decision. With growl she spun round and grabbed Okoye by the throat.

"Yeah, you're right, they are coming. But she can't move right now, she's losing too much blood. So you are going to stay right here as well. You are going to make sure she's fine and when I come back, if you're either not here or she's not fine, I'm going rip you apart piece by piece. Do you understand?"

Okoye nodded feebly and Carmilla released her.

Laura found her voice.

"What do you mean 'when you come back'? Where are you going?"

Carmilla went back to her and crouched down, eyes locked on hers.

"You need to sit here for a bit. But those Corvae goons are looking to get in here. So I'm going to go deal with them. Then I'm coming right back, okay?"

She said this slowly, as if Laura might not understand what she was saying.

As if she might not understand that Carmilla was talking about going outside to fight armed gunmen without any weapons of her own.

As if she couldn't work out that what Carmilla was talking about, by any logic, was certain death.

"No, don't." She started.

Carmilla kissed her on the forehead before getting up and striding purposefully towards the door.

Laura stretched her right hand towards her.

"You're not a vampire anymore. They have guns and they'll kill you if you go out there. Carm, please." She said desperately, pleading.

Carmilla stopped at the door.

"No, they won't."

She opened the door, went outside into the corridor and slammed it shut behind her.


	17. Chapter 17: Carmilla

It was, she supposed as she opened the door, on the whole a moronic action to take. Less hero saving her lover and more foolhardy idiot about to get herself killed.

Before she had even started opening the door, a part of her recognized the logic in Laura's words and another, much larger and more emotive part, screamed in protest at ignoring the plea to stay. Going outside to fight armed gunmen was one thing, leaving Laura bleeding on the ground alone with someone she didn't trust was quite another. She had so wanted to stay with her, to hold her close and do anything she could to soothe her pain.

But that would have gotten them all killed and moving Laura would have killed her, so with that in mind, perhaps this moronic action did have one thing going for it. It was slightly better than all the other options leading to certain death.

She didn't get riddled with bullets as soon as she opened the door, so she counted that as a good start. Instead she was met with shouts in Italian, the gist of which being 'we would quite like you to get on the ground now', though worded a great deal more strongly.

She counted six of them, two were as close as a stride or two away, one straight in front of her with a window at his back and one to her right. The other four were cautiously moving down the smaller connecting passageway towards her.

She wished she could work out which one had fired the bullet into Laura, though whether she wanted that one to die first or for that one to suffer more, she couldn't work out.

She'd have to settle for hurting them all.

To her left stood one of the many busts placed around the gallery. She picked it up with both hands and hurled it at the goon to her right before launching herself at the one straight in front of her. She pummelled the first goon's head and neck faster than they could react and they collapsed to the ground, wheezing.

The second came upon her quickly. Either they had evaded the bust or it hadn't hurt them enough to slow them down much. He swung the butt of his gun at her face as she turned towards him. She twisted away to avoid it and used his momentum against him, turning side ways to let him past and then shoving him hard in the back towards the window.

The glass in the window had been shot out and so nothing stopped him as he fell screaming through it and down into the courtyard. A few moments later Carmilla heard something between a thud and a squelch, like watermelons dropping from a great height.

The gallery went still and quiet. Carmilla could feel the demeanour of the remaining goons shift. One of them spoke, a harsh woman's voice cutting through the air to voice what Carmilla guessed they were all thinking.

"Ad inferno con lui, solo l'uccida e dica a Gustav che noi abbiamo processato" To hell with it, just kill her and tell Gustav we tried.

They were done playing nice.

As one, they raised their weapons and fired. She had started running down the corridor away from them before that, realizing what was about to happen. She stayed low as the bullets whizzed past, breaking yet more glass and destroying priceless pieces of art along the corridor.

Stings of pain erupted on her arms and body as ricocheting pieces of wood and stone ripped through the air around her. She couldn't stay on the corridor, that she hadn't been killed yet was already a miracle. She took the first door she could see on her left and went through it shoulder first.

The door led into a room similar to the one they had first tried to hole up in, dark and square with another open doorway at the back leading to further rooms. This one wasn't empty however, a statue of a man on a horse stood in the centre and artworks hung around the walls. With any luck the goons would pursue her in here and forget about Laura.

The muffled gunshots stopped and Carmilla heard boots thundering her direction. She breathed a sigh of relief that Laura was safe for the moment and then tried to think of a way not to die in the next few minutes. The statue caught her eye. It stood upon a large rectangular pedestal that if she crouched behind would hide most of her body, especially without the room's lights on.

She dashed behind it as the first of the goons stormed into the room. From behind the pedestal, she heard rather than saw two rush across the room and around the statue, clearly thinking she had kept running through whatever rooms were behind her.

When they came past and had their backs to her she struck. One of them had a knife strapped to their side. She grabbed it from their holster and stabbed into their back before they could react. As she stabbed the first goon she pushed them into the second. Three bodies crashed together and fell to the ground. The goon she had stabbed laid still and the second thrashed wildly in an attempt to shake off the dead weight pinning their weapon between them.

She pulled out the knife from the dead goon's body and stabbed it into the other goon's neck. Her blood was pumping now, flush not only with desperate adrenaline but also with the same exhilaration she had felt after defeating the tall skeleton on the hilltop cemetery. She was winning. She was whittling them down one by one like a predator amongst prey.

She was being shot at.

The last two goons burst into the room guns blazing, the bullets ripping great holes in the statue. Barely looking, she threw the knife in their direction and was rewarded with a cry of pain before diving through the open doorway and behind the wall to its left. The shooting continued and with a spike of fear she realized the bullets were going through the wall with ease. She flattened herself onto the ground as little holes appeared above her, bullets fizzing passed and into whatever was in the room she had dived into. She hadn't bothered to check, though 'more priceless pieces of art being ripped to pieces' seemed like a good guess at this point. Maybe later, when she wasn't being shot at, she would find the time to mourn the cultural disaster happening around her.

The shooting stopped and footsteps came towards the doorway. She heard them stumble on the bodies near it. She took her chance. Jumping up to her feet and charging back through the doorway. She barrelled into the final goon, pressing their weapon sideways against their chest as they fired it ineffectually. They wrestled over the gun. This close she recognized the goon as the woman who had spoken earlier. The woman took one hand off the gun and went for something on her hip, probably another weapon of some sort. Carmilla didn't particularly want to find out so she smashed her forehead into the woman's face. The woman stumbled and lost her balance, lurching backwards. Carmilla grabbed her head and rammed her face first into the statue. The statue, holes and all, remained still and after she fell to the ground, so did the goon.

That ended it, nothing else attacked her. Other than her, nobody else appeared to be still moving. Breathing heavily, Carmilla looked around the room. It was wrecked, the artworks destroyed and four bloody bodies lying on the ground. The last one had something in the hand she had taken off the gun. It was round and metal with a pin on top. A grenade was it called? Humans had so many weapons and while she was a vampire none of them interested her in the least. Carmilla pocketed it. With enemies like Gustav it might be useful, as long as she didn't blow herself up using it. She heard it clink against the other object still in her pocket. She was waiting for the right time to use that as well, hopefully that wait wouldn't be much longer.

She found the knife she had thrown embedded in the forehead of the last goon unaccounted for. For second he looked like the gnome back at the cottage after she had used it to impress Laura. That gnome had a red hat. The goon now had red hair.

Her breathing didn't slow down, she found herself moving around the room without purpose, the adrenaline from the fight refusing to wear off. She had trouble thinking straight and she was almost relieved when she heard more footsteps coming towards her. A dark figure flashed past the door down the corridor.

The first goon she had taken down with her fists must have gotten back up and decided fighting Carmilla wasn't their best option for survival right now.

There was no reason to follow, no reason not to let him go. But when she saw his back, it wasn't her rational mind making decisions. It was the part that saw fleeing enemies and thought chase. She pulled the knife from the dead man's head and did just that.

She ran him down as he got near to the end of the corridor, shoving him hard to the ground. He rolled over onto his back, arms raised in a plea, eyes wide in fear. She raised the knife.

She didn't bring it down.

Instead she stood over him, still as a statue, wracked with competing voices. The one that had been exhilarated and urged to chase this last goon down wanted to end it. What if this was the one that shot Laura? There was a time, not even that long ago, when that probably would have been the only voice, or at least by far the loudest. But things were different now, other voices could be heard and they all opposed the first voice vehemently. One of them wasn't hers but was familiar regardless. In her mind's eye she saw its owner, golden hair and brown eyes staring at her accusingly, full of disappointment.

She put the knife away and instead punched the goon in the jaw. The face in her mind dropped the accusing stare and smiled kindly. She liked that much more. Good decision then.

The goon groaned pathetically. She'd heard a nasty crunching sound when her punch landed, his jaw was probably broken. She couldn't summon much in the way of sympathy for him. He had tried to kill Laura and her all.

She stood over him and spoke.

"I want you to go back to your people. When they fix your jaw you're going to tell them what happened just now, in detail. I want you to tell anyone you can that no matter how much Corvae or anyone else can pay you, it will never be worth fucking with me. Understand?"

He nodded feebly and shakily got to his feet. He ran away from her as fast as he could, hands clasped around his broken jaw. At the end of the corridor to the left was a staircase down to the lower levels. He took it and Carmilla heard his footsteps going down.

When the footsteps faded away she leant against the wall to rest. Her breathing slowed and she came down from the adrenaline high. She felt weirdly satisfied with her decision to let the last goon go. It wasn't only that she knew Laura would approve, although that certainly was a big part of it, she couldn't help but feel it meant something. That it said something about her, about who she was turning into. She hoped that was true.

The moments after the fight had ended in the square art room she hadn't been sure how to feel. Relieved at being alive? Exhilaration from winning the fight? Sadness at having to kill again when she wanted to be better than that? They all had felt true to some degree.

Now things were much clearer. She wasn't sure how to feel about killing those trying to do the same to her anymore, but she knew how choosing not to kill felt. It felt good. She got a ridiculous urge to thank Laura for helping her make her decision, even though it had been a Laura in her mind.

Or maybe the urge to see Laura was more about the fact she had last seen her with a bullet wound.

With a start, she pushed herself off the wall and began running back to the room she had left Laura and Okoye, cursing herself for taking a rest when Laura could need her.

When she reached the door she started speaking as she opened it.

"It's okay, I dealt with them, it's safe," And I let one go, which I'm kinda hoping you'll be proud of me for. "Laura? Okoye?"

Neither Laura nor Okoye answered and when Carmilla entered the room it was empty. Other than the dark blood stains from Laura's wound on the poorly lit floor, there was no sign of either of them.

* * *

A pit formed in stomach as she called out Laura's name over and over to no response. She even tried Okoye's a few times in desperation to the same result. She couldn't find a blood trail from Laura's wound, which was frustrating from a finding Laura standpoint, but she could spin it positively that at least they had managed to stem the bleeding before moving, or being moved. Thinking about the latter possibility deepened the pit.

She searched through the art rooms beyond the open doorway in the empty square room they had all been in. Maybe they had retreated through them to get further away from the fight? If they did there was no sign of it, other than more artworks and statues the rooms were empty. It took her a few minutes to realize she was going through the same rooms, picking directions at random. Her calls became louder, more desperate. A war raged inside her.

You shouldn't have left her. If I hadn't we'd all be dead. You shouldn't have left her! If I hadn't we'd all be dead!

A small noise of static burst out somewhere near, a voice could be heard as well but she couldn't make out their words. It sounded like it came from a room further down the corridor. One of the goons must have had a radio. She walked back down the corridor towards the room with the statue and the dead goons. She got halfway there when the voice became unmistakable.

A barking laugh rang out through static. It kept going until she made it to the room. The radio it came from was on the female goon's body. Gustav stopped laughing and spoke.

"Judging from the lack of gunfire and nobody from the first team answering their radio, I'm guessing it's just you over there, Mircalla. I knew you could do it. I could have sent in everyone but I wanted it to be fair, thought you might be a bit rusty. Then I saw one of my guys pancaked on the ground floor and realized I had nothing to worry about! I guess you can take the vampire out of the woman, but never the killer."

Those last words hit far too close to what she had said to Laura at the cottage. Carmilla picked up the radio but didn't say anything into it.

"Though, I admit I did make it a little easier by telling them to bring you in alive. Okoye told them both of you had important information and not to kill either of you. I may have advised them that we only needed you to find the Sarratum and to take Hollis out on sight. Wait a second, why would I tell them something like that? That's not true at all, I must be going crazy. Gosh, I sure hope nothing bad happened to Hollis because I said that."

The world went red for a few seconds. White hot anger coursed through her. Laura had put herself in harms way to try and protect her, when in truth thanks to Gustav it was Laura who was in the real danger the whole time. She barely caught his next words.

"Oh, too late it seems. From where I'm standing she's not looking too good."

The anger met with panic and the two swirled around her brain maliciously.

"I know you're probably thinking I've been real sneaky but would you believe I happened upon them by accident?"

She found the button to transmit on the radio and pressed it.

"If you hurt her, you better hope that you're right, that all of your psychotic delusions about a God loving you are true. Because you are going to need all the divine protection you can get when that God's last daughter on this earth comes for you."

The laughter returned, the barks almost sounded triumphant.

"There she is! The girl I was looking for, been waiting to meet for so long. By all means, come find me. Ah, finally," the lights in the room switched on one by one and Carmilla could hear the lights around the Uffizi doing the same. "I was wondering when the guys I sent would get those on. Now, if you'd come out onto the corridor you're on, we can see each other."

She spun around and rushed out of the room. The gallery had been lit up under yellow and white lights, the splendour of the place and its artworks much clearer. She spotted Gustav immediately on the parallel corridor to the one she stood in, looking exactly the same as before with a black armour vest and a rifle slung over his shoulder. He waved at her with one hand cheerily in front of a doorway on the left end of his corridor. She walked to her left and up against the windows to get a better look.

To the right of him was large staircase that the Corvae goons must have come up before when they were interrogating Okoye. She could easily see him through the windows but the straight line between them both was glass windows and then nothing but air. To get to him she would have to run to the connecting passageway all the way to her right and then the entire length of the corridor he was in.

Despite being so close, she was about as far away from him and by extension Laura as one could on this level of the structure by the dint of its U-shaped design. If he decided to hurt Laura, she had no way to stop him.

Under the lights she could make out his feral grin.

"Looks like I get everything I wanted from tonight, the interloper dead and you back to your true self. A few more pushes I think, or maybe just the one. Like I promised, I won't make you watch, but she can hear you if have anything final to say."

Another voice came through the static, coming from a short distance away from the radio but still easily heard. It was Laura's. Carmilla felt her heart constrict.

"I'm so sorry Carm, I'm so sorry. If this… if this is it for me and I gotta say, things aren't looking too bright and sunny for team Hollis over here. I need you to promise me you won't let this change you, isolate you. You didn't want that for me and I don't want that for you. There's a whole world out there that I know you wanted to see, one that's beyond your Mother and all the horrible things you've had to go through. I want you to live in it, enjoy it. If anyone deserves that it's you. Don't let this douche face win. Remember who you are. I lo-"

The radio switched off abruptly. Gustav turned around and went through the doorway, slamming the door behind him, his body language angry.

Carmilla cried out and turned to start running, logic and reason telling her there was nothing she could do cast aside. But before she got her legs moving her ears filled with what sounded like the beating of colossal wings coming from above and getting closer. She looked up and a moment later a large black object descended into the space between the corridors, a red 'C' emblazoned on its side.

The Corvae helicopter.

It was an exceptionally tight fit. The pilot was either very good or completely insane. It hovered so close that Carmilla would have backed herself to be able to jump to it from one of the windows.

The radio crackled back to life. Carmilla could only barely hear it over the helicopter's rotary blades.

"What are you doing?" Gustav shouted. "Stop, Stop now!" Panic in his voice for the first time.

The side doors slid open, revealing another goon crouching behind a very large gun. Clearly the rest of the Corvae goons no longer shared Gustav's desire to keep her alive. The gun began to rotate, slow at first but rapidly speeding up.

"Oh, shit." She said.

She started running right before the gun started firing. The noise was tremendous, fair outstripping the already impressive sound of the rotary blades. Even if they weren't about to get ripped to shreds with the rest of her body, her ears were probably going to explode anyway. The helicopter moved with her as she ran. But there was no way it could turn in such a tight space and the giant gun could only fire sideways. If she could get off the corridor and onto the smaller connecting passageway, she would be in front of it and safe, for a moment anyway.

The gun chewed up everything behind her ravenously. It was like having the maw of a monster directly behind her, eating everything in its path. The walls disintegrated as she ran passed them, along with whatever priceless artworks were still left. She felt the bullets getting closer, but she couldn't will her legs to move any faster. She wasn't going to make it in time.

The gun stopped firing.

She got to the passageway and in front of the helicopter. Wondering how she was still alive, she turned to look at the helicopter as the body of the goon who had been firing the gun fell limply out of its side. The pilot had stopped moving the helicopter forwards and instead hovered in place, as if unsure of their next action. She heard shouting over the ringing in her ears and the helicopter's blades.

The shouting came from Gustav, who she saw to her right, standing near the point of where the corridor he was on met the connecting passageway. He had his gun out, pointing threateningly at the pilot. Gustav seemed to have lost his radio and the pilot pushed the helicopter forward towards him, most likely in an attempt to hear his shouts.

A flash of inspiration hit her, or alternatively, a flash of insanity. Since meeting Laura, crazy plans had become part of her life. She wondered what Laura would think of this one. She pulled the pilfered grenade out of her pocket, pulled out the pin and flung it towards the helicopter.

The effect was rather more than she'd hoped. The grenade hit the front of the helicopter and the cockpit exploded into flames. The flaming wreck hurtled forwards at the building, directly where Gustav had been standing.

The helicopter hit the Uffizi with an almighty crash and everything in front of her disappeared in a bright flash of light.


	18. Chapter 18: Laura

"No, they won't."

The words were said with such confidence that Laura almost believed them herself. They were accompanied by a swaggering stride out the door and for a moment those two things were enough, Carmilla was going to be her hero like so many times before. It didn't matter what was behind those doors, Carmilla wouldn't fail her, wouldn't leave her, wouldn't die.

The sound of her blood dripping from her arm onto the ground served to snap her back to reality. The loss of the blood she kinda needed inside of her body and not on the expensive floor, reminding her not of her own mortality but Carmilla's. Carmilla was not fragile, she knew no one fiercer and Laura would bet on her in any fight, but they were in the same boat now. The same bullet that had gone through her arm would have done the exact same damage to Carmilla and now she was about to get a whole lot more coming her way. No amount of brave words and confident swagger was going to change that.

She needed help and Laura wasn't going to sit here like some damsel waiting patiently for the hero to vanquish the danger. If Carmilla couldn't beat those goons alone, then Laura would make sure she wasn't going to fight them alone.

Perhaps that was the true lesson of her time at Silas. Not that those stories of good triumphing over evil weren't real and one should just give up and surrender to cynicism. But that if good wasn't fated to win like it always did in the stories she grew up with, then it was up to people like her to fight as hard as they could until it did.

Sometimes that meant being brave and standing up to scary people, sometimes that meant widening your worldview to understand the world wasn't as black and white as you thought, sometimes that meant opening your heart to people so different to you, you could never imagine falling in love with them.

And sometimes that meant getting your ass off the floor of an art room in the Uffizi Gallery, to help your girlfriend fight armed goons trying to kill her. The lesson was admittedly a pretty vague one, yet valuable all the same.

But when she tried to get to her feet, she felt heavy pressure on both her shoulders pushing her back down.

"Please don't do that, I haven't stopped the bleeding yet and I am absolutely certain that she will kill me if you die."

Okoye was right in front of her, doing something with her injured arm. She had been so worried about Carmilla she hadn't even noticed. To be truthful she'd mostly forgotten Okoye's existence when Carmilla had walked through the door.

Her hands were wrapping something around her arm. It took her a moment register that it was the now very crumpled suit jacket Laura had come to associate Okoye with. Okoye seemed smaller without it. wispy, frail even, like the shedding of a hard shell revealing a fragile animal beneath. Some of Laura's blood had gotten on the white shirt she'd had underneath the jacket.

She could hear shouting outside the door, something in Italian. Probably nothing good but shouting sounded better than gunfire.

Okoye tightened the jacket around her arm and she gasped in pain. Okoye nodded to her awkwardly.

"I think that stemmed the bleeding for now. Only for now, you'll need to get to a hospital sooner rather than later. You're…we're lucky the bullet went clean through."

The shouting stopped, a window smashed and the muffled gunshots started up again, this time in earnest.

She shot back up to her feet faster than Okoye could stop her. Okoye dashed passed her and planted herself in front of the door. Laura glared at her.

"Get out of the way." The pain in her arm and her anxiety turned the words into a growl, a tone she wasn't sure she'd ever heard out of her own mouth before.

"No, that is a terrible idea, what can you even do? I don't think you realize how much blood you've lost. If they don't shoot you, it will only be because you already collapsed to the ground."

"She's alone, she needs help. Get out of the way!" She waved Okoye away with her good arm angrily.

Idly and unbidden, thoughts of whether or not she could take Okoye in a fight came to mind. She thought yes, despite having one arm and not as much of her blood as she probably needed, Okoye's small frame was such that it seemed like a gust of wind would cause her problems.

"You are not going to help her by going out there and getting shot. You can help her, but not by charging into a hail of bullets. I have better idea, if you're willing to hear it?"

Laura paused and took a deep breath.

"Okay, I'm listening."

Okoye spoke quickly, but her words remained clear and concise. She may have diminished from the evil Bond villain figure that had previously been in Laura's mind before tonight, but as she spoke Laura remembered how smooth a talker she was.

"You don't help by fighting Corvae's mercenary team. You help by removing the reason they're fighting at all. They want the Sarratum, they will kill for it if they have to yes, but however they get it isn't important to them."

"What they want is me dead and Carm back in the worst family this side of a US soap drama."

"No, that's apparently what Gustav wants. I can assure you those mercenaries out there couldn't care less about you or Karnstein. This might come as a surprise to you both, but you aren't the centre of everyone's universe. If we find the Sarratum, we are in the dominant position no matter how many guns they have. We can negotiate. Threaten to destroy it if they don't stop trying to kill us."

Laura had to admit it wasn't a bad plan. Or, at the least, it beat out her charging into the fray with one arm as the best plan they had.

"You said you thought you knew where it was. Can we get there?"

In response Okoye pressed her ear against the door.

"I think the fights moved on down the corridor. I think we can move if we're quiet. There's a room right down the end of the Eastern Corridor, the one I was going to when you two caught me, that I believe is where Pisano hid the mask."

Laura nodded.

"Alright fine, let's go."

Okoye carefully pulled the door open as quietly as she could and headed into the corridor. Laura followed suit. Both crouched low to the ground as they moved.

Like Okoye had said, the way ahead into the smaller connecting passageway turned out to be clear. Down the corridor they were in Laura saw two goons charging into a room, with two more behind them. None were looking in their direction. Another goon lay on the ground near them. Laura couldn't tell if he was dead or unconscious.

They moved passed him and into the passageway. Laura's head swam slightly and her arm continued to throb awfully. She stayed firmly on her feet though, gritting her teeth through the pain and shaking her head slightly whenever the world around her went out of focus.

Once they got to the Eastern Corridor a new thought occurred to Laura.

"Wait, if we do find the Sarratum, why negotiate? Why not use it to force everyone to not attack us? Maybe also suggest to them to rethink their life of casual murder for money as well, while we're at it."

Okoye looked back at her and shook her head.

"Do you remember when I said we had no idea what the Sarratum did? Yeah, that was a complete lie I'm afraid. Corvae have known about the Sarratum for centuries. The effect is a magical one and magical effects can be defended against. Everyone Corvae sent here has been given a whole range of counter spells and defences, including me. Corvae wasn't going to let the very object they wanted be used against their own people."

"Great, must be good to be on the team with all the power."

The muffled gunshots continued. Laura tried her best to ignore them. If she didn't, the urge to dash all the way back would have been overwhelming. I can't help that way. This is a way I can.

They reached the room at the end of the corridor. A sign next to the door had writing in English under the Italian. It read Room 1: Archaeological Room.

"You think he hid it in here?"

Okoye, not giving an answer, opened the door and went inside. Laura followed her in.

The room was smaller than the one they came from but roughly the same shape. Stuffed to the brim with statues, masks, sculptures and other ancient looking artefacts, it looked less an exhibit and more neglected storage room. If it had a portal on one of its walls it wouldn't have been unlike Amaya's storage room back at her house.

"This room is usually the home of ancient sculptures of the Roman variety mostly, including replicas of the Ara Pacis. But recently it was decided to temporarily dedicate it to artefacts from other ancient cultures, Aztec, Hittite, Mayan and the various cultures of Mesopotamia."

"Which includes Sumer and hence the perfect place for a clever thief to hide a Sumerian artefact." Laura said, catching on fast.

"Especially considering the exhibit is not even close to being ready yet, so not many people are privy to the room. Once I got access, this would have been the first room I searched. Unfortunately for me, you two along with Gustav pre-empted that."

"Alright get searching, the faster we find it, the faster we can get those goons to stop trying to kill Carm."

It didn't take long. The room turned out to be much better organized than it looked and Laura soon found a large crate with Sumer printed on the side. She started going through it, despite the time pressure she felt the need to be careful with what were artefacts of almost priceless value. After lifting out a number of other pieces she found it.

It looked mostly the same as it had on the tablet Okoye had showed them back at the cottage. Golden facial features painted on blue stone. It seemed less intimidating in person, duller and smaller. Although that may have been because it was currently in a room filled with countless other treasures. Laura found herself reminded of the Holy Grail from a certain adventure film. Don't choose poorly, Laura. She thought wryly.

"Found it." She said, lifting it out of the crate. It didn't weigh much and was cool to touch.

She turned to Okoye who rushed towards her, excitement in her face. She opened her mouth to say something when another voice came from the doorway.

"Fantastic! That is great news. I myself hate having to search around for small, irritating things."

Gustav stood at the door, a rifle held idly in his hands and a wide grin on his face that showed teeth.

"Oh, and masks can be annoying to search for too. It's always so great when you get two things for the price of one."

* * *

Laura clutched the Sarratum in her hands and backed away until she hit the end of the room, searching for another way out. None were apparent. The only way in and out of the room had something rather large and intimidating in front of it holding a gun.

"I've waited a while for this, Hollis. Not as long as I waited to join the family you've done your best to dismantle, but long enough for what's about to happen to be very satisfying. Funny I should find you here, slinking away like a coward while Mircalla does all the fighting. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, I guess a manipulator like you doesn't want to get her hands dirty."

He slung the gun over his shoulder. Clearly having too much fun to kill her right at this moment and not particular worried about there being any danger to him. Okoye had retreated into the corner to Laura's left, looking like she would melt into the walls if she could.

"Time to bring an end to your manipulations and fix the damage you've caused. You took someone beautiful and twisted them, brought them down to your level, filled her head with a load of sentimental bullshit. You seduced her and turned her against her own family, against her own nature. I honestly can't think of anything viler."

Laura guessed that his words, as well as for his own gratification, were supposed to insult her. But so at odds with reality were they that they barely registered as such. They read to her like they came from an internal script he had been writing on his own. A narrative he had created for himself, in which reality was persona non grata.

"You know, I would point out that it's little weird to get accused of being the bad influence and the seducer when I was the college undergrad and she was the vampire in that situation. But I'm getting a real 'I'm a crazy person' vibe from you, so logic might not be the way to go here."

"God, I am going to enjoy killing you. I really want it to be slow, but I'd like to tell Mircalla you didn't suffer. What a conundrum for me." He advanced slowly as he spoke, taking his time. His gaze never wavered from her and his eyes hadn't blinked once since he'd entered the room.

She fought her blood loss induced light headedness and forced herself to stand up straight. Her legs shook slightly but they stayed firm enough. She matched his gaze with one of her own. If this was it, she wasn't going to huddle and beg. That's not how she wanted things to end.

"I'm not afraid of you." She said. If it was a lie, she was glad it didn't show in her voice.

Gustav merely shrugged.

"That's fine, the night's still young. I can fix that."

But then he paused and looked behind him quizzically. He looked to be hearing something they couldn't. Or maybe not hearing something, she thought as she realized the muffled gunshots had stopped completely. Gustav took a radio from his side and spoke into it. He asked for something called a 'check in' and got no answer. Then he started laughing.

"Judging from the lack of gunfire and nobody from the first team answering their radio, I'm guessing it's just you over there, Mircalla."

Laura listened as Gustav goaded Carmilla over the radio. When Carmilla first spoke back she felt such relief that the light headedness and the pain almost seemed to go away, the relief that she was still alive temporarily cancelling out her physical injuries.

But otherwise what she heard from both Gustav and Carmilla scared her. Gustav's taunts were crude but effective. Laura could see their intent, to make Carmilla angry and ready to lash out. Carmilla wasn't dumb, but Laura could tell from her voice and her words that they were getting under her skin. She could also work out why. It was her fault yet again, Carmilla's fear of losing her was what was doing the real damage, not Gustav's childish goading.

Gustav knew it too. She could see the outlines of his plan now. He had taken his twin goals and made them the same. Kill her and turn Carmilla back into the killer she used to be had evolved into kill her to turn Carmilla back into the killer she used to be. Everything else he had thrown their way, the goons, the mask, all were mere devices to create this moment or a moment like it. And even if Carmilla killed him afterwards…

She spoke up loudly then, pouring her heart out over the crackling radio. She didn't want to die but far worse would be to know what her death might do to Carmilla. Memories of the Carmilla in the alternate universe JP had thrown her into rose in her mind. Lost and sad and broken, she couldn't let that happen to the real one.

She tried to end it by telling her she loved her but Gustav cut off the radio halfway through and came back into the room. Anger emanated off him, his hazel eyes wide with rage. Except when Laura looked closer, she thought she could see fear as well.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" He roared, spittle flying from his lips. "Who are you to tell her to remember who she is? What do you know, little girl?"

She stayed defiant and didn't flinch.

"I know she's better than you and you're not going to win."

He unslung his rifle in a swift movement and aimed it at her.

Before he fired a noise of what Laura immediately recognized as a helicopter came from outside the door. With a cry of alarm Gustav snapped around and charged back through the door and into the corridor. A few seconds later a dragon apparently started roaring for all Laura could work out and then an explosion shook the building.

"What the hell is happening?" Okoye shouted, probably to hear herself over ringing ears as much as anything.

Laura stumbled her way into the corridor to find out.

* * *

Well the gallery certainly looked different, that was for sure. In front of her the glass windows and exterior wall of the corridor across her no longer existed. In fact a great deal of the interior walls in front of the art rooms had also been destroyed. From where Laura stood, she could see all the way into a few rooms on the opposite side of the building. The lights had turned on during Gustav's radio conversation with Carmilla and while they were working fine on her side of the building many had been destroyed or flickered wildly on the other side.

But that paled in comparison to the destruction to her left. The connecting passageway between the corridors for the most part had been completely annihilated and what was left burned brightly, giving off huge plumes of smoke into the night sky. It didn't take a genius to work out what had done the damage. The tail boom of the Corvae helicopter hung off the second floor of their side of the building over the courtyard. The tail rotor still spun slowly and the red Corvae "C" remained untouched. With the connecting passageway out of the way so to speak, she could see the Arno River from where she stood. It was like a deeply destructive and claustrophobic being had decided to open the whole structure up, no walls allowed.

With her eyes being distracted by the tremendous destruction all around, it took her a while to notice the figures dashing around the structure, more Corvae goons. There were at least a half dozen, of which two on the first floor of the opposing corridor caught Laura's eye. They were dragging someone away from the wreckage of the connecting passageway. She recognized them immediately.

Carmilla.

She started to cry out when a hand clasped around her shoulder.

"If she was dead, they wouldn't be bothering to take her. She's alive, Hollis, she's alive. We have the Sarratum. We can get control of this."

Laura shook her head vigorously and then looked down at the mask in her hands.

"If you think we can smooth talk our way out of this, then I don't think you're paying attention to the anything that's happening. These people aren't going to give us a chance to negotiate, if they see us with the Sarratum, they're just going to shoot us and take it."

"We could hide it. Tell them-"

"That'll take too long. They have to know they're on a time limit now. They shot up one of the most famous places in the world and then crashed a helicopter into it. That's kinda of like a thing, you know, one of those things that everybody notices? If they don't find the Sarratum real soon they'll probably kill Carm and try to leave."

Okoye threw her arms out to her sides.

"Well, what else can we do? Fight them?"

That sparked an idea in Laura's head. Fight them. Even by her standards she recognized it as off the wall, but desperate times and all that.

"No, we can't fight them to get Carm back. But with this." She lifted the Sarratum up in one hand. "We can get some friends to."

"Hollis, I told you, the mercenaries down there are protected from the Sarratum's effects."

"That's not the friends I'm talking about. Look," she pointed at the ruined corridor in front of them. "We need to get over there and back into the Vasari Corridor. The connecting passageway from here to there is a bit busy not existing. Do you know another way?"

Okoye seemed torn between trying answer that question and wanting to ask questions of her own. She chose the former.

"Well, the only way would be to get down to the courtyard and cross into the Western Corridor from there. There's some stairs close by, we should take them."

The 'stairs' as Okoye put it, turned out to be a breathtakingly magnificent bifurcated grand staircase made of stone. The dichotomy of the magnificent sights and locations she had seen versus the violence she had experienced in these last few days was becoming a real issue for categorizing this whole mess. If she got the chance to look back on this, would she consider it a memorable adventure or a horrifying ordeal? She felt sure the answer would depend on how things ended from here.

The run down the staircase felt like a marathon. Her wounded arm started dripping blood again through the jacket and sweat poured down her back and face, the two most precious liquids in her body fighting over who she'd run out of first. She was pushing herself too hard. Maybe action films had lied to her and people weren't supposed to run around buildings and staircases after being shot.

Had she been with Carmilla, she'd have thrown aside any dignity and fallen on her for support way before now. In fact she probably wouldn't have protested being carried by her. But with Okoye she felt the need to put on as strong a front as possible, she couldn't shake off the feeling that Okoye would pounce on any sign of weakness. She couldn't trust her. Of that much she was certain.

Reaching the ground floor came as a sweet relief. From there it was only a few strides to find a door to the outside courtyard. Distantly Laura could hear sirens once they opened it and got outside. On the ground level each of the two main sections of the structure were underpinned by stone circular pillars. Laura and Okoye huddled behind one to get a better look at their surroundings.

The rectangular shaped courtyard, like much of Florence, was made of cobblestone, its grey colour now more easily seen thanks to the turned on lights and the flames from the helicopter crash. To their right the courtyard eventually led out into a square she and Carmilla had explored before meeting Pisano. To their left, the destroyed passageway and the Arno River and straight ahead, the other side of the courtyard and a door leading into the ground floor of the Western Corridor.

It wouldn't take more than a few seconds to get from one side to the other, but other than a car, a small sedan, parked near the pillar they hid behind, there was little to stop someone from seeing them as they did.

"We move from here to behind the car and then as fast as we can to other side." Laura said.

"And if we get seen?" Okoye's question came from a whispered hiss.

"Then we probably get shot and killed. I'm going now." She started for the car, if Okoye didn't want to follow, fine.

The run to the car went easily and without incident. But right before Laura began moving to the other side of the courtyard, the sirens became much louder and a goon came running past them. She pressed up against the car and made herself as small as possible.

She needn't have bothered. The goon's attention was solely focused on what turned out to be an oncoming fire engine squeezing its way through the cramped cobblestone courtyard towards them.

As soon as the goon went passed Laura took her chance and dashed across the courtyard. She could hear Okoye close behind, who clearly had made up her mind to stick with her.

When she made it to the door the goon had started shouting in Italian. Once she got the door open that shouting escalated into gunfire. The shots were no longer muffled, each one a loud crack that that stung her ears. The noise of the fire engine's sirens diminished, Laura assumed that meant it was retreating away.

She didn't know how long it would last, but for now the Corvae goons were still in charge of the place.

Once inside the structure again it wasn't hard to find another set of stairs to get back up to the second floor. They didn't encounter anymore goons, for which Laura was grateful. The moved in a tense silence for the most part. But once they reached the second floor her talkative nature got the better of her. Or maybe she needed a distraction from her impending complete exhaustion.

"You know, I'm surprised you're still here. I thought you might have taken the chance to leave once we got outside." Her words came out of a dry throat and had a scratchy quality to them.

"Why would I leave when the thing I need to save my family and my country is right here?"

There it was. She had wanted to wait for this conversation until after they'd gotten Carmilla back safe and sound, but if Okoye was going to keep following her they probably needed to get this issue out of the way now.

"Okoye, this thing, the Sarratum, after we get Carm back it needs to be destroyed. It's too dangerous-"

"Oh, so once you use it to save Karnstein, then it must be destroyed. First it's too dangerous to use at all, then your girlfriend gets herself captured and suddenly you can use it this one time. I suppose it becomes too dangerous again once you get what you want with it right? Interesting how that works."

They were moving through the remnants of the Western Corridor during this conversation. Normally it wouldn't have taken long at all but there were holes in the floor that required some effort to navigate.

"No, it's different what I'm doing, I'm not going to use it on… it's just different."

"How so, is it because Karnstein is important to you but the people I'm looking to save aren't? I thought you were supposed to be some kind of hero."

There were perfectly good counter arguments to Okoye's words, she was sure, but in her current state she couldn't quite solidify them in her mind. Something along the lines of trying to use a creepy mind control device created by an ancient God to influence world events being a bad idea. She tried voicing that, but Okoye cut passed her.

"I have brothers back home, three, all younger. When I left, none were higher than my waist. Now one has a baby girl I've never gotten to meet. That's one of the few things I know about how my family is doing back there. I didn't… leave on the best of terms. I hated it there and I had to get out. Corvae gave me that opportunity, I knew what they were and I didn't care. My parents did. I used to tell myself every day since then that it was worth it. But now seeing them all in danger, I have to do something, anything, even if that means using something like the Sarratum. I've watched your videos and I've seen the kind of person you are, someone who helps, someone who can't stand by and watch bad things happen. Laura Hollis, I'm asking you to help me."

Okoye's eyes were shining now. Laura couldn't shake the feeling that she was finally seeing the real person behind the character Okoye had put on since their first meeting.

"I'm sorry." She found herself saying. "I'm sorry that your family is in danger." It wasn't an agreement to what Okoye wanted, only a statement of sympathy. She hoped Okoye would take it as such.

Okoye wiped her eyes and gathered herself.

"My apologies, I didn't intend on blurting out my life story in the middle of all of this. I merely wanted to give some context to my actions. I understand that with your lover in danger, you want to focus on saving her right now."

"Yeah, kinda do. We'll talk about this later." She'd been shot, was in a building so damaged it felt it might collapse completely at any moment and Carmilla was in mortal danger. Moral quandaries were not what she wanted to deal with right now.

They reached door to the Vasari and went through it.

The Vasari hadn't taken any damage so it looked exactly the same as her first trip through it. It didn't take long to get back to where the elevator from the Count's bedroom and brought them. Okoye, confused at where she was being taken, became more and more exasperated.

"Why are we here?"

Laura tried to remember exactly where the elevator had been.

"It was around here somewhere, it can't be only one way. How would Bagucci have gotten back?" As she said this, Laura started stamping on the ground seemingly at random.

Okoye watched her as she put on this display of garden variety insanity for a few moments before speaking in a voice one might use on a mental patient.

"Okay, perhaps you've lost a little too much blood."

Laura stamped twice in the same spot and got rewarded with wooden ground opening up beneath her and revealing the circular platform from before. She gave a little victorious whoop and grinned at Okoye.

"You were saying?"

Another stamp and the platform started moving down, Okoye hesitated at first but jumped on at the last minute to join her.

"As impressive as this is, what are we doing down here? From what I was told there isn't anything down here except for…" She paused for a second, realizing what Laura had come up with.

Laura nodded and gave a quick smirk of acknowledgment.

"No. Hollis this is crazy. Has any ever told you that you're a crazy person?"

"An alarming amount actually. But everyone who says that never seems to have a better idea."

Count Bagucci's bedroom was as they left it. Absurdly, she felt almost self-conscious for not cleaning it up now that she had come back here with a relative stranger.

She walked over to the bedroom's door and stopped there.

"Carm said everything in earshot would be affected and sound echoes like crazy through these tunnels." Carmilla had also said that using the mask drained its user. She tried to put that in the back of her mind.

"Are you sure about this?" Okoye asked.

She looked at the mask in her hands. Don't choose poorly, Laura. Harder advice to follow than it sounded.

"Not even remotely." Laura responded and brought the mask to her face.

The effect was immediate. The blue stone the mask was made from glowed brightly and snapped to her face like metal to a magnet. There weren't any eye holes so her world became dark. It didn't hurt and it would be easy to take off, but it also didn't need any help staying around her face.

She took a deep breath and then called out into the tunnel complex.

"Gargoyles of these tunnels, I have a task for you."

* * *

Count Bagucci's Star Chamber

Its eyes were open but unless it needed to it saw nothing. Its ears could hear a penny drop anywhere in the labyrinth of its Master's tunnels but unless it came from an intruder it meant nothing, a noise as meaningless as to be no different from silence. A contradictory creature it was, capable of perceiving so much yet processing so little of it.

A person would have considered the changes to the Count's tunnels to be profound. From a bustling hub of life and activity to a dark and still place long abandoned. But to the stone gargoyle and its brethren nothing had changed. No intruders then and no intruders now. Perhaps there had been times when there had been intruders, but memories required a little more sentience than it had been given. It's Master only needed it to remember one thing anyway. The first and last thing he had commanded them to do in his deep, booming voice.

"Here I have placed you and here you will stay, unless someone not of my choosing comes upon my tunnels, then you shall hunt these intruders down and destroy them."

And so it stood in its spot and waited.

But now, for the first time in years, the Master's voice rang out through the tunnel again and for only the second time in their existence, it was directed at them.

"Gargoyles of these tunnels, I have a task for you."

A few moments before the voice spoke it had sensed the presence of an intruder inside the Count's personal bedroom. The powerful voice of its Master was unmistakable however, so instead of moving immediately it remained still and listened.

"Gargoyles of these tunnels. Is that a good way to put it do you think? Maybe Stone Guardians of Count Bagucci's Underground City or, ooh Stone Defenders! No wait, no that's silly. Gargoyles, yeah, gargoyles of these tunnels I have a task for you. Or a mission, ah, something I want you to do? You know what, task sounds good. Let's go with that. I have a task for you."

The gargoyle waited for its task.

"Oh crap, what is it I actually want you guys to do exactly? I really should have written a script or something. Okay, I want, you to… ah, go to the Uffizi Gallery by ways of the Vasari Corridor. Then I want you all to protect the Uffizi from intruders. Yeah, do that. Okay then, now I can take this thing off and they still do the things I said right?"

The Master stopped speaking then, but that mattered little, it understood its new task perfectly. It moved towards Vasari Corridor like it had been ordered, it knew instinctively that the elevator in the Master's bedroom would be the fastest way. From the Vasari Corridor it would go to the Uffizi Gallery like it had been ordered.

And then it would destroy any intruders, like it had been ordered.

* * *

"Hollis! Hollis come on, what is wrong with you?"

The world was blurry and out of focus. She could tell the voice belonged to Okoye, that she was lying on her back and she was traveling upwards. Beyond these things she struggled.

Internally things weren't going too well either. She felt something beyond simple exhaustion, as if even the actions of her lungs drawing breath and her heart pumping blood were tiring. She had lost something vital, not water or air or blood but something harder to define yet just as needed. Whatever it was, it had been drained out of her and she knew instinctively that it would take a while to get it back.

"What? Where?" She couldn't project anything into her voice and it came out in a whispered gasp.

"After you took the Sarratum off you collapsed. I dragged you to the elevator. We're going back up to the Vasari. You do remember everything that happened before you took the mask off right?"

She could, though it took a moment for it to come back to her. She tried to nod but couldn't move her head. With great effort she managed to gasp out a 'yes' to the question.

"Could you have worded that any worse? Protect the Uffizi from intruders? We're intruders! We all sneaked in remember?"

She thought on that for a moment. Thinking also took a lot more effort than usual. The best even logical Laura Hollis could come up with right now was oops!

Okoye scowled when she didn't reply.

From there things became hazy, she could tell she was being dragged again, but nothing else she got from her senses stuck in her mind long enough to process. Dimly, she could hear a sound like grinding stone. That was bad right?

The dragging stopped. She blinked a few times and the haze cleared slightly, she was in one of the art rooms, propped up against a wall.

"I'm sorry. I genuinely am, but this is not going to work. I can't drag you through a wrecked building filled with killer gargoyles and people with guns."

Okoye stood in front of her, an object held in her hands. Laura focused on it. A mask, the Sarratum.

Alarm bells started ringing in her mind.

"You're best hope is to hide here, there's a chance nothing will find you until it's all over."

Okoye started moving. Laura tried to move her head to follow her but could only let it fall onto her shoulder to watch Okoye's feet as they walked away.

"I'm sorry Hollis, but I have people counting on me for this."

Her feet left her sight and then her footsteps faded away, leaving Laura alone in the room.


	19. Chapter 19: Carmilla

She woke to the sound of a raging fire.

She woke to the smell of one as well, the stench of burning wood filling her nostrils. The heat she felt on her face panicked her into thinking the fire was close and that she would be burned unless she moved. Once she opened her eyes she saw that the fire was actually a fair way above her, consuming the remnants of the connecting passageway. The heat she felt wasn't due to proximity but to intensity. She wondered, somewhat wryly, whether there had been any oil paintings on either level of the connecting passageway.

She took stock of her situation and looked around.

She was lying on her back, her bare skin could feel stone and she realized she was in the courtyard. Had she fallen? No if she had she'd be dead. Someone must have moved her here. Laura?

Laura.

The thought of Laura hit her like a thunderbolt. Where was she? She had been hurt badly and left alone with a lying snake Carmilla did not trust. How long had she been out? What if Laura needed her? She had to find her.

But when she sat up, it was to a goon sitting in front of her. They were close, but not close enough for her to get within reach before they could bring up the gun they held firmly in their hands. Upon seeing her wake, the goon casually pulled out a radio and spoke Italian into it. Her voice was flat and bored, as if burning buildings full of dead people were something she saw every day.

Carmilla was sitting almost underneath the wreckage of the connecting passageway, the almost part being important as every once and awhile a piece of burning debris would fall from it to the ground behind her. The two main corridors were to her left and right in front of her.

She wasn't tied up or restrained in any way and the knife she'd taken during the fight with the previous goons lay on the ground in front of her, within reach if she stretched. When she saw it the goon's eyes flicked from her to it and then back to her again. The woman's eyes glittered dangerously.

Go ahead and try it. The eyes encouraged. Make my shitty day easier.

Carmilla didn't take the bait. Instead she gave them a casual smile and stretched out languidly. She could play this game. Only one moment of distraction and the goon's day would get a lot worse. Though, she really hoped that moment would come sooner rather than later, a part of her brain refused to stop demanding she find Laura regardless of what was currently happening and it wouldn't be long until that part of started shouting at her.

A door to her left, leading into the Western Corridor opened and another goon came through it. Unlike the woman he had his gun slung over his shoulder. He walked over to them, eyes on Carmilla. Two would be harder, she would have to deal with one quick enough to get close to the other before they could shoot.

Above him, on the second floor of the corridor a third goon appeared, their weapon covering them from a broken window.

Okay, this was getting trickier, she had to admit. Now she needed a distraction, to kill one quickly, maybe use the other as a shield…

Another figure came through of the door behind the second goon.

She blinked once, then a few times more. What she was seeing didn't make any sense. Maybe she'd fallen after all and her brain wasn't working anymore.

The latest figure was unmistakably Gustav. He moved with a limp and is armour vest was gone, which reduced his size slightly, but it was him. Despite her attempt with the grenade and the helicopter, she hadn't managed to kill him.

He winked at her when he saw her. After walking through the door only one side of him was properly visible to her, he kept it that way when he spoke.

"Nice try Mircalla." He said amicably, like he was praising her for a good move in a card game. "Closer than anyone's ever gotten before. I can respect that."

"This doesn't make any sense." She said, as if she could convince the universe that it had made a mistake, that people die when helicopters explode into them and hence it might like to reconsider his current existence. "How the hell are you not dead?"

"Well," he said, shrugging. "It's not like I'm entirely in one piece."

He turned to face her fully. The majority of the left side of his face was a burnt ruin, a mass of scabbed, red raw flesh hanging loosely over his skull. Some of that flesh hung over his left eye, sealing it halfway shut. His mouth had escaped damage, but that did little to balance out the horror of his visage.

He walked over to her. His limp gave her the image of a bear with a nail in its paw.

"Yeah, got me pretty good. Got the building a little more though." He said, gesturing at the passageway wreckage.

"Where is Laura?" She demanded. "If you've done something to her I swear-"

"Where is the Sarratum?" The second goon, the man with the gun strapped around his shoulder broke in. He had a hard face with narrow eyes. He stood in front of her next to Gustav.

"How should I know?" She spat the words out, full of venom.

"How should I know?" He repeated. "Interesting." He directed the words at Gustav not her.

Gustav didn't say anything and merely gave the goon a sideways glance. Carmilla noticed that the tension in the air was not only between her and them. The goon's eyes held accusation, suspicion. She'd immediately assumed Gustav to be in charge, like he'd clearly been before, but now she wasn't so sure.

"Except she should know where it is. Isn't that right Gustav? Kill Hollis, capture Karnstein. Because Karnstein has info on the location and Hollis does not." His voice rose as he went on. The bored looking goon nodded along with him as well.

"That's what you said. Except here is the weird part for me, why would one know something and not the other? They seem to be attached to the hip from what I've seen. Before this, Okoye said not to harm either of them, then suddenly you're in charge and Okoye disappears. Now half of us are dead, our helicopter's gone, we're in a burning building that will soon be surrounded by police and Karnstein says 'How should I know?' When asked where the Sarratum is.

Gustav still didn't speak, Carmilla could see him tensing up though. Like her, he could see were this was going.

Carmilla thought she could hear something beyond the raging fire and the odd crash of debris hitting the courtyard cobblestone. It was a ways off but getting closer, she couldn't quite make it out but it set off enough alarms in her subconscious that she found herself focusing on it. What was it?

The male goon continued talking.

"You know what? I think you're full of shit. I think there's something going on between you and Karnstein, Hollis too probably. I think you've used us for a personal vendetta. What, did she turn you down a hundred years ago or something? I don't care what it is. We haven't got time for it."

He turned to her.

"Do you know where the Sarratum is or not? Last chance."

She kept silent.

"She doesn't know anything." The woman declared in the same flat bored voice.

Gustav started chuckling and all eyes turned back to him. His gaze was on her.

"It's funny. They keep saying to me that hired help is so much better these days. 'They're smart now Gustav, they can think for themselves, so much more value for money!' I keep telling them that thinking is not what you want them doing at all."

The male goon lost his patience. He reached for his weapon.

"Kill them both."

A wordless cry of alarm came from above, followed by a smattering of gunshots and then a scream.

They all looked up.

The third goon that had been covering them from overhead was hanging in mid-air above the courtyard. He hung transfixed by a giant stone spear that had gone through his chest. He looked like the first piece of a giant morbid kebab. The spear wriggled and jerked to slide him off and the body down hard onto the cobblestone.

No one reacted for a moment, a collective metaphorical blink for all involved. Then the owner of the spear came into view and Carmilla finally worked out what the noise had been. The stone gargoyle stood where goon had been. It saw them all in the courtyard and promptly walked in its jerky, puppet strings motion right off the edge. It hit the ground with a colossal crack! The gargoyle then continued moving towards them without even the slightest hint of damage.

The courtyard erupted into chaos. The two goons turned their guns to the gargoyle and fired. Seizing her chance, she sprang to her feet, grabbed the knife from the ground and ran. She made for the door Gustav and the goon had come out of. Apparently nothing was currently focused on her because she didn't get shot or stabbed by a stone spear on the way to it.

Once through the door she had one thought in her mind, finding Laura. Anything beyond that could be worked out later. Gustav had been standing in an art room on the second floor of the Eastern Corridor when Laura had called to her through the radio. Her best move would be to get to that room and hope she could pick up a trail of some kind.

She found some stairs leading up to the higher floors and took them. She'd get to the second floor of this corridor and then take the connecting passageway to the other. That would be the quickest way.

Well, it would be if that passageway still existed.

The thought hit her as she reached the second floor and she cursed herself for not thinking her on the fly improvised plan through. Unless she wanted to try jumping the gap between the corridors she'd have to go back to the ground floor and cross over through the courtyard she'd just escaped from.

Fantastic.

Sounds of violence came from all over the Uffizi as she ran back down the stairs. The fighting must have spilled out beyond the courtyard. She got back to the ground floor to find a gargoyle thrusting its spear at a terrified goon. The fight blocked her from getting off the stairs and forced her back up to the first floor.

She got off the stairs and soon found herself in a long rectangular hall with an orange floor and cream walls. She noticed paintings on the wall to her left as she passed through, looking for another set of stairs to go down. But when she reached the hall's exit doorway, a booming voice roared out at her.

"Mircalla!"

She turned around. Gustav stood at the other end of the hall. He had a pistol on his hip, but he made no move to reach for it.

They stayed as they were for a few moments, her on one end and him on the other, the length of the hall between them. Carmilla spoke first.

"Where is she?"

"How should I know?" He said. Mimicking her earlier words as his eyes glittered cruelly.

"You can't keep running, Mircalla. Stop denying who you are and who you belong to, come back to us. Come back to you, not this pathetic creature she's reduced you to."

"So you can have this imaginary family you've made up in your head."

"It's not imaginary, Inanna promised me herself that it would happen. It was her gift to me, just as she bestowed gifts upon you."

"Gifts, you think she gave me gifts?" Real anger bordering on rage laced her words now. "Gifts like killing people I cared about? Gifts like burying me underground for decades?"

"Gifts like life beyond death and power most creatures could only dream of." Gustav countered.

"Spend some time trapped in a coffin. You'll see how little such things matter in the end."

Gustav stepped forwards towards her, pointing his finger at her.

"She gave you everything! And you throw a tantrum for getting a timeout as punishment for being a child."

"A timeout, that's what you call it?"

"It was compared to what she expected of me. I slugged through the mud for years for her, every dirty thing she needed done but didn't want to lower herself to do. Or you for that matter, once you lucked out with that bomb. So many objects hidden in the ass cracks of the world she needed found, so many people she needed dead. I did it, whatever she asked and all for promises of things she already gave to you, her darling daughter, her favourite."

She laughed in his face.

"Are you looking for sympathy? I'm so sorry being an evil prick didn't get you want you wanted."

"And I'm sorry you threw away everything she gave you for a naïve weakling child. Maybe you saw something of yourself in her, who you were before Inanna found you. A pathetic child, alone in the world, sheltered to the point of absurdity. I suppose Inanna could only fix so much."

So much for the admiration he had affected for her in their first meeting. She wasn't surprised in finding the jealousy he'd hit behind it.

"That goon from before was right, you are full of shit. You don't care about me or joining a family, not really. In the end all you want is for Inanna to talk to you again and this, in your insane mind, is the best way to get her to do that."

"You're right about one thing, though." She conceded. "I was weak before I met a woman. But that woman wasn't Inanna."

Gustav spat on the ground at that.

"You know I've said to you twice that I'd kill Hollis quickly and somewhere you don't have to see. But now, I'm thinking I might reconsider that. You were docile enough after Inanna sacrificed the other girl and threw you in that coffin. Maybe killing Hollis in front of you and another timeout is what's needed here after all."

Her hand tightened around the knife.

"I'm not going to let that happen."

Gustav grinned and threw out his arms.

"Round two it is then."

* * *

They advanced at each other, the two most dangerous people in the building squaring off. She knew she couldn't go blow for blow with him. Her chest still remembered his previous punches. She had some advantages this time though, a knife made for killing rather than eating off a plate, his armour vest was gone and his limp looked to be impeding his movement at least a little.

Fighting had never been something to think about for her. Her vampiric strength and speed had for the most part made it a simple matter of getting close and tearing into the neck of whatever she wanted dead. But she'd picked up little things, instincts mostly. Where to attack, how to feel a blow coming, when to press an advantage and when maybe to hold off. Well, to be honest that last instinct was one she often ignored but she knew it was there. If she was going to survive this, she was going to need every last thing she'd learned.

She let him throw the first blow this time. Their last fight had made it clear trying to overwhelm him was pointless. He struck out with his right hand in an almost casual manner, a bear lazily throwing out a paw. She tilted away from it and slashed at his hand, drawing blood.

He threw a few more punches like this, all to the same result. He threw another, but as she began to slash at it as before he followed up with a much quicker left that she barely evaded and then another right that connected with her shoulder.

It felt like a cannonball and it blew her off her feet. She landed hard onto the ground. She rolled way, trying to fight the dizziness from taking such a blow. Gustav laughed derisively.

He didn't press his advantage and simply allowed her to get back up. She took a moment to collect herself and then advanced on him again. This time she ducked under his punch and went to slash at his body. He tried to back away but his limp stopped him from doing so fast enough. She got a slash in, then another, then another. He grunted, whether in pain or frustration she wasn't sure, then grabbed her around the chest and threw her savagely at the wall.

She hit one of the paintings and felt it break apart against her. As soon as she landed Gustav followed up by aiming a kick at her chest. She threw herself away from the boot and it missed her by inches, crunching into the wall and leaving a hole in it. She slashed at the offending leg and Gustav pulled it back with a wince. She got back to her feet and stabbed at him. He twisted to his side and shoved his shoulder into her. The impact knocked her down and the knife out of her hands.

She paused for a moment, breathing heavily, unsure whether to go for the knife or if exposing her back would be a terrible idea. She was pretty sure that was one of the instincts she'd picked up at some point. A loud banging sound came from above, heavy objects smashing into the ceiling over and over again. Clearly more gargoyles on the level above had heard her and Gustav below and decided to take a more direct route to them than going down stairs.

"Looks like your goons aren't doing too good." She said, through heavy pants.

"Can't even deal with some stone statues, morons." He shrugged his shoulders. "Never mind, Corvae will give me a fresh batch. If Inanna still wants me working for Corvae that is."

"She is never going to talk to you again. She never cared about you. Nothing that can happen here will change that."

He roared at her and charged. Even with the limp she couldn't dart away in time. His blows came thick and fast, crunching into her chest and the arms she held out protectively. The last one hit the side of her head, spinning her around as she clattered to the ground.

Her head ringing, she desperately crawled away from him, trying to get some distance. The knife lay in front of her, a few arm stretches away.

"This is what you are without her Mircalla. Weak, pathetic, frail. Everything good about you comes from her. Your strength, your speed, but I'm not just talking physically. I mean everything good. Think of all the things you got to see thanks to her, the places you visited, the events you witnessed, all her.

She tried to shut him out as she crawled towards the knife.

"And now this weakling child you seem to love so much. The one you'd have died long before meeting without Inanna. Do you really think she'd have fallen in love with the pathetic sheltered Countess too scared to even defy her father? No, if she loves someone, it's the badass vampire. If she knew the you before Inanna, all she'd feel towards them is pity."

"You're wrong!" She snarled back at him, still crawling. Anger coursed through her veins now. She needed him to stop talking.

"I'm not and you know it. Enough of this charade, I don't have to keep hurting you, just accept Inanna back. Accept yourself for what you are. Accept that everything good in your life came from her."

Her most outstretched hand got to the knife. She clasped her fingers around its hilt.

"Here's what I can accept, asshole. I might not be fast anymore." She turned her head around to face him with a savage grin.

"But the knife can be."

She flicked the knife with her wrists just as she had so many times before in the past few months at the cottage, her aim just as true now as it always been then. It buried itself to the hilt into his shin. He staggered slightly and she took her advantage. She dived at him and grabbed the hilt in both hands. Before he could react, she viciously pulled the knife upwards, cutting a bloody line up his leg.

For the first time he screamed in real pain, a howl of a wounded animal. He reached for the gun on his hip but she pulled the knife out of the ruined leg and stabbed it into his hand, forcing him to drop it. She squared up and threw everything behind a punch to his jaw. Like some kind of ancient colossus he fell over backwards almost in slow motion. It must have been only in her mind, but when he crashed to the ground it seemed even louder than the gargoyle hitting the cobblestone earlier.

She didn't let up. She crouched over him and started raining down punches, rights and lefts over and over. When he tried to cover up his face she went for his chest, when he covered up there she started stomping on his gut, there was always a weak spot. Eventually, when he no longer had the strength to even try to protect himself she went back to his face.

A red mist had descended, in her mind Gustav's face changed to one with dark black eyes on a cruel thin mouth. When it did so, Carmilla punched even harder, finally able to strike at the person truly responsible for all of this, for helping create this monster of a man, for creating things like the Sarratum. Gustav was as much a string of broken web as the Sarratum. He had to go, just like it did.

She got off him and picked up the gun he'd dropped. She'd never used one before but it how hard could it be? She pointed it at him.

Gustav laughed.

Any part of his face that hadn't been burned had turned purple and his good eye was almost swollen shut. His laugh was hacking, breathing clearly being a problem for him.

It was still a laugh however and it gave her pause.

"What's so funny?"

"Because I win." He choked out. "It took you long enough but you got there eventually. I wanted to show you you're still a killer and you've proven me right all night. From the first guy you threw from that window, all the way to now. It didn't take much really, did it? All I had to do was put that weakling child in danger and here you are, doing what comes naturally to you."

His eyes blazed again with the almost religious intensity she'd some from them in the cottage.

"This is you, this is who you are! Finally you're here. Honestly, I couldn't be happier."

"I'm going to kill you and you couldn't be happier?"

"My love is a God, when I die she'll pluck me out of the afterlife and I will be with her forever. As long as I did what I needed to do with you. My final test, bringing you back to yourself." His swollen lips curved upwards in a contented smile.

She remained silent at that, she couldn't think of what say to it. The banging overhead continued. The gargoyles were going to break through sooner or later.

"You know Hollis is probably dead right?" Gustav said abruptly.

"What?"

"Come on, Karnstein use your brain. Those gargoyles didn't decide to come here of their own accord. Someone must have sent them. There is only one thing here that can do that and only one person who would want them to."

Her blood ran cold. She hadn't had time to think about why the stone gargoyles had shown up but what Gustav said made sense. She had told her what the Sarratum could do, why would she use such a dangerous thing?

The answer came to her easily. To save her. A crazy Laura Hollis esque rescue plan tailor made to get the little fool killed. Laura what did you do?

"That thing drained Inanna for weeks she told me, imagine what it would do to her?"

She gripped the gun tighter, a finger brushed against the trigger.

"That's it Mircalla. If she's dead, it's really my fault if you think about it. Take your revenge, kill me and remember who you are."

Remember who you are.

The words echoed through her head, not in Gustav's voice but in Laura's, distorted by the radio but the love in them still so clear.

Remember who you are.

She lowered the gun to her side.

"What are doing?" Gustav asked impatience in his voice.

"You're a big one aren't you?"

"What?" Gustav responded, nonplussed.

"Yeah, you are. You've probably been throwing that size around your whole life, beating smaller people down because you can. Even before whatever Corvae did to turn you into whatever you are now. Yeah, you've always been strong, which means you've never had to be brave. That's why Mother was so easily able to manipulate you, she was the first person you ever met you were weaker than and you've been in the palm of her hand ever since."

Pieces of the ceiling started falling to the ground as she spoke, it wouldn't be long now until the gargoyles got through.

"You see Laura, this weakling you think of her as. She didn't grow up beating smaller people down. No, she's been fighting people like you. No matter how outmatched, no matter how much they told her to back down and give up. Instead she stood up and fought back, she was brave. That's real strength Gustav not the false kind you've relied on all your life."

"You call me weak for loving her? I was weak, under Mother's thumb just like you. But unlike you I was lucky, I found someone who showed me I could be better, I could stand up and fight, I could be brave. I could be more than just a killer. If it wasn't for her I would be where you are right now, still Mother's stooge, still in the darkness. Thanks to her I'm free, something despite all your imagined strength you'll never be."

She dropped the gun to the ground.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I can't burn away what I did all those years and that it's part of me forever, a part of me that comes from Mother. But that isn't all I am, isn't who I am. I was someone before that, someone kind who desperately wanted to find a friend to join them as they explored the world. When I'm with her I start to remember that person again. But more importantly than that, when I'm with her, I'm closer to the person I want to be. Not the the lonely child, not the vampiric monster. Me."

She walked away. It didn't matter if he had anything to say to any of that. It was over. She had beaten him, in more ways than one. She was done with this, done with him. Whatever happened to him now would have nothing to do with her. She had to find Laura, nothing else was important.

Gustav evidently did have a lot to say.

"You're pathetic!" He screamed, as drool dribbled down his swollen mouth like a baby in need of a bib. "You think you can just leave me here? I'll find you Karnstein, this isn't over. You have to, you need to… she has to come back to me… she has to talk to me again, Karnstein!" He continued raging, but Carmilla tuned him out.

As she moved through the exit doorway, the ceiling collapsed completely and she heard the stone gargoyles fall into the hall.

After such a nice speech about becoming a better person she probably shouldn't have enjoyed the sounds of their spears tearing into him and his shouts turning to screams.

But if she was honest about it, she'd have to admit she absolutely did.


	20. Chapter 20: Carmilla

Well then, back to finding another set of stairs.

The sound of gunfire and shouting had become more sporadic. Either the goons were winning and there were fewer gargoyles to shoot at or the gargoyles were winning and there were fewer goons still alive to do the shooting. She knew which way she'd be betting.

Beyond the hall she left Gustav to the gargoyles in were more art rooms. The first floor had sustained much less damage than the second. In a lot of rooms the only indications of damage were the holes in the ceiling, most of which Carmilla suspected to have been made when the helicopter had shot at her with its giant gun.

As she searched for a way down to the ground floor, she heard a voice through those holes.

"Come on, you can do this Hollis. Just get one foot… in front of the other. If you could do the Mantario Trail in the rain with Dad, right after eating two whole tubs of ice cream and getting the stomach ache from hell, you can do this. One foot… in front of the other."

Her heart skipped a beat.

"Laura!" She shouted upwards.

"Carm!" Laura's voice floated back down to her. It was weak and unsteady, but Carmilla could hear the relief in it when Laura called back to her.

"Stay there. Don't move, I'm coming to you. Stay there."

"Oh god can I do that, I can absolutely do that. Sitting down and not doing anything sounds great right about now."

To hell with finding stairs, there were a few holes in the ceiling big enough to get through if she could reach them. She looked around the art room she stood in.

Near the middle of the room was another statue on a pedestal, much like the man on a horse one from before. This one was of a robed woman holding a baby. She moved to it and started climbing, first stepping onto the pedestal and then, with a grunt of effort, clambering onto the statue's shoulders. To keep herself balanced she crouched slightly and kept a hand on the woman's head. The nearest large enough hole was still a small leap away. She could see the fresco covered ceiling of the second floor through it.

When she looked down to see how far she'd fall if she messed up her jump, it struck her that after everything else they'd gone through, it would be quite the irony to break her neck now attempting this. She took a deep breath and leaped.

Her leap got her about halfway through the hole and she scrambled for purchase on the ruined floor, legs dangling in the air. Unable to to pull herself up and out, her arms started sliding inexorably backwards. She felt a rising panic as the next few seconds went by in a flash, another moment and she'd be hurtling back down to the hard floor below.

Hands grabbed her own, giving her something to hold onto. She did so gratefully and with their help she hoisted herself out of the hole and onto the second floor.

"What were you thinking?" Laura asked as they lay tangled together on the floor near the hole, she sounded like she was suffering from a bad case of the flu. "You could have been hurt!"

Carmilla kissed her.

She hugged Laura tightly as she did so, running hands over every square inch of her as if she needed to physically make sure Laura was all still there, that she wasn't missing any of her. When everything was accounted for, Carmilla broke the kiss and laid her head against Laura's body, feeling the vibrations of her heartbeat and the rise and fall of her chest.

Of her five senses, sight and sound were the least useful to her right now. She needed to feel Laura with her hands and taste Laura on her lips. Her eyes closed during the kiss and she didn't bother to open them again. Her fingers started gently massaging Laura's back.

A pressure in her mind she hadn't fully realized had been there until now eased away. It may have been ludicrous, considering they were still stuck in a burning building full of enemies, but she found herself feeling safe and that everything was going to be fine.

She moved up from Laura's chest and pressed her forehead against Laura's. She moved her hands to Laura's hair, tangling through it.

"I could have been hurt?" Carmilla said. "So says the woman who went off to find and use the very dangerous ancient artifact when I'm pretty sure I told her to stay in the nice safe room to nurse her gunshot wound."

Carmilla opened her eyes to look at said wound. A jacket, Okoye's perhaps, had been wrapped around it. She didn't like how drenched it appeared at all. Laura looked drained and exhausted. The colour had left her cheeks to the point of her being almost as pale as Carmilla and dark pits had formed under her currently closed eyes. Laura had always been small, but now it was more than that. She looked tiny and vulnerable. Something that Carmilla would never characterize Laura as normally.

"I'm sorry," Laura said. "I-"

Speaking appeared to be of great effort to Laura right now. Carmilla decided she didn't want that effort wasted on an apology she didn't need, so she smothered it with another kiss. Despite her clear exhaustion, Laura responded to it with enthusiasm.

Laura opened her eyes and smiled. In that moment, despite everything, else she was Laura again, a genuine golden smile on her face and her brown eyes shining.

"Hey." Carmilla said softly. She cupped a hand around Laura's cheek, who responded by sinking into it like it was a pillow.

"Wanna get out of here, cupcake?"

Laura nodded.

"Very yes."

"Do you still have the Sarratum?" Carmilla asked.

Laura shook her head.

"Okoye took it and left."

"She left you?"

Another nod.

A rush of anger filled her.

"Oh, when I catch up with her she's got something coming. Forget it for now though. Let's get you out of here."

"Wait, Carm. I have to talk to you." Laura appeared to have to force the words out, but the intensity on her face made it clear she felt the effort was worth it. Carmilla didn't try to stop her.

"Gustav, he, what he's trying to do. He's using me against you. He thinks he can get to you, change you, by killing me. You can't let him win. I can't stand the thought of you being alone. Even if I die, you have to promise me-"

Carmilla stopped her there by hugging her tightly.

"It's okay, he's done, finished. He's not going to bother us anymore."

Laura sucked in a breath.

"You mean he's… did you?" The question was obvious despite not being completed.

Carmilla broke away slightly so she could look Laura in the eyes.

"No. I wanted to, had the chance to. But I didn't, he died anyway but it wasn't me that killed him. I don't want to be that person anymore. I want to be better than that."

The smile on Laura's face was perfectly genuine and the love in her eyes became Carmilla's world for the next few moments before Laura pressed forward back into the hug.

"I love you. I don't want you to think I would have judged you over it, if, you know, you decided to do the other thing. Judging is not what I do anymore, especially with you and I mean, he really was kind of an asshole so."

Carmilla chuckled at Laura's rare use of true harsh language and squeezed her for a second to indicate she understood. She also needed Laura to stop talking. The effort had made her start to shake slightly. Carmilla supposed that if anyone was going to literally explode from talking too much it would be Laura but all things considered she'd rather than not happen.

"C'mon, time to get out of here."

Carmilla helped Laura to her feet and then kept her close and steady with a firm arm around her waist. Laura leaned heavily on her, wrapping an arm over Carmilla's shoulders.

"We get down to the courtyard and leave. Simple plan."

She remembered there being a staircase at the end of the corridor which the goon she had let live ran down to get away from her. They made for that. The going was slow, not only because of Laura but also the treacherous nature of the hole-ridden floor. It would have been too easy to get a foot stuck or to fall through the larger holes completely.

"What were you even doing out here?" Carmilla asked after almost getting her foot stuck for the umpteenth time.

"I was coming to rescue you."

Carmilla rarely and if you asked her she'd say never, giggled but that brought one out. She kissed the top of Laura's head.

"Of course you were."

They were almost there when the sound of grinding stone signaled a gargoyle coming up behind them. It was thankfully alone, but the red on its spear served as an unneeded reminder of how dangerous even one could be.

Carmilla turned them around to face it. Laura couldn't outpace one in her current state. She maneuvered them to the side of the corridor facing the courtyard below. With most of the walls and windows destroyed by the helicopter earlier, there was nothing to stop someone from walking right off the edge. She waited for the gargoyle to attack.

The gargoyle charged with its spear. Carmilla jerked her and Laura to the side at the last moment and the gargoyle's momentum caused it to run passed them and fall front first over the edge. Another earth shattering crash came from below as it hit the ground.

"Well done, but won't we have to deal with it again when we get down there?" Laura panted out.

"Let me have my little victories."

They kept going, the staircase now in sight.

"What did you tell those gargoyles to do anyway?" Carmilla asked.

"Protect the Uffizi from intruders."

"Nice one," Carmilla snorted, "Fantastic wording on that command."

"Yeah, sorry."

"Don't be, if they hadn't shown up I'd be dead in the courtyard. You saved my life."

As they passed the last art room to their left before reaching the staircase Carmilla heard a frightened squeak and some scuffling coming from the room. It couldn't have been a gargoyle and it really didn't sound like one of the Corvae goons, which left.

"Wait a second." Carmilla said and turned them left to get a better look into the room.

Hiding at the back of the room next to a portrait with a large bullet hole in its centre, sweating profusely and holding the Sarratum firmly in her hands,

Bolade Okoye.

* * *

It took her a moment to realize she'd started growling the instant she saw her and walked herself and Laura into the room. She didn't realize she still did that sometimes since turning human.

The room was dark, its ceiling lights not working. The only light came from the fire through the open doorway and from a window to the outside world a few metres away from Okoye that let in some moonlight.

Okoye tried to back away, but as she was already at the end of the room she only ended up banging the back of her head against the wall. She clutched the Sarratum in both hands like a newborn baby. Her were eyes frozen on Carmilla, a deer caught in headlights.

"Fantastic! You found each other and you're both okay." She said, her voice barely remaining steady.

"No thanks to you." Carmilla said voice dangerously calm. "What was it I said to you before, about what I'd do to you if you left Laura alone? Ripped to pieces I think was the general idea I got across."

"I… I, you said to stay in that room with her and I did until she wanted to leave. She was going to charge into those goons and get herself shot again before I intervened. I saved her! I stopped her bleeding out and we found the Sarratum thanks to me."

"Oh, I see. I should be thanking you. Tell me, how much am I supposed to thank you for taking the Sarratum and leaving her to die?"

Okoye swallowed visible and licked her lips.

Laura moved herself against the wall to the side of the door they had gone through. She squeezed Carmilla's hand to indicate she was okay and began leaning on the wall rather than Carmilla. Freeing Carmilla to move if she needed to.

"Look." Okoye said. "I get that you're mad. I understand that, but leaving her in that room really was the best option for her. There are gargoyles and Corvae mercenaries everywhere. I put her in a quiet and safe spot-"

"And stole my mother's mask before trying to save your own skin, don't think you can talk your way out of this Okoye. Luckily for you, I'm trying to not casually murder people I don't like anymore and I really want to get out of here. So you have to the count of right goddamn now to give me the Sarratum."

Okoye looked stricken, clearly terrified of her but still unwilling to give the Sarratum up. What had she needed it for again? Some country and some war somewhere, she honestly couldn't care less. The longer Okoye stalled, the longer it would take to get Laura to safety.

"Please, you have to understand, I need it. People are counting on me."

Carmilla lost her patience and moved forwards threateningly. Fine, we'll do it the hard way.

"Stop, please."

The words froze her in place as they had come from Laura not Okoye. Carmilla turned to her. Laura was looking at Okoye.

"Enough violence for one night," she paused for a second, gathering strength. "Okoye, listen to me please. I'll be honest, I pretty much hate you and I hope I never see you again, but this is me trying to help you. I get you want to help your family back home. But even if we did let you leave with the mask, do you really think what you try to do with it will work out well for them? Look around you."

Laura tried to gesture around with an arm but stopped immediately when the action caused her to start swaying unsteadily. Her brown eyes shone brightly despite the darkness.

"People are dead, monsters are trying to kill us, okay that one's my fault mea culpa and the building we're in, one that's full of art that has been around for generations is burning. This is what Inanna's tools are for. Destruction and death and suffering, if you take the Sarratum back to Congo and back to your family, that is all it will bring to them as well."

"That's already coming, I told you! Why not at least try to use it, it can't be end up worse than a war."

"It can. I started a war once, of a kind. I thought I'd made a terrible mistake and that it would have been better if I'd done nothing. Then I saw the truth, that there can always be something worse. That mask is dangerous, more dangerous than any weapon. Do you really think Corvae won't find you if you take it back to your home? You've seen what they'll do to get it and they will never stop. Not to mention, if some of the people in your home country are as bad as you say. Imagine what they would do if they managed to take the mask from you?"

Okoye took the words as if they were physical blows. She sagged against the wall and looked down at the mask in her hands.

"I made such a big mistake, hurt so many people I cared for when I left. I just wanted to make it right. I thought this could make it right."

"I understand that feeling. More than you can ever know. I'm sorry but this isn't how you make things better."

"If not with this, then how?" Okoye's question seemed desperate.

"I don't have all the answers, I learned that a while ago, so I can't to tell you that. But maybe getting back with your family isn't about trying to save them all unilaterally with some grand gesture. Maybe it's more about opening yourself back up to them and trying to work things out together."

Okoye looked up at Laura and they shared a long look, what it meant Carmilla wasn't entirely sure. Okoye nodded and held out the mask to Carmilla.

"Take it."

Carmilla stepped forward and did. Before coming to Florence she'd thought about what she would do once she had the Sarratum in her hands. Would she make it a big deal in destroying her Mother's mask? Gloat over it? Savour it? Consider it another victory over a being that had lost all interest in this plane of existence, never mind a mask they had used centuries ago?

In the end she barely even looked at it. Instead she immediately dropped it to the ground and stomped on it multiple times. The one ring it wasn't. The Melammu Ina Sarratum shattered and broke into many blue and gold pieces, a slight pop! in the air indicating that it's power had been extinguished. She wouldn't deny it felt good, but it was more relief than anything else. Besides, she had a bigger priority now. She turned to Laura.

"It's over."

Laura sighed in relief.

"What now?" Okoye asked.

"Well, we're leaving. I don't know what you want to do." Carmilla's answer was dismissive.

Okoye licked her lips, hesitating, then spoke.

"Look I'm not an expert on those gargoyles but I know a little bit about how those kinds of magically animated guardians work. It would take a lot of energy to animate them, to power them. Whatever does power them is probably in those tunnels. Up here, they must be moving only on what's stored in them."

"Like a battery." Carmilla said.

"Yeah exactly, it's only a matter of time until that battery runs out. So… my thoughts were to hide until that happens. At least they were while all the shooting was happening."

Carmilla shook her head.

"We have no idea how long that would take and they seem pretty good at finding people."

Okoye nodded in agreement.

"So we try to escape then?"

"I need a second." Laura said.

Okoye opened her mouth to speak but Carmilla cut in, knowing what she was going to say.

"You don't have to wait up." You can leave.

Like a scolded animal Okoye started moving towards the door. When she reached it she stopped for a second and turned her head towards Laura.

"Thank you." She said and disappeared out the door. Never to be seen again if Carmilla had her way.

After a few moments Laura sighed again.

"Okay." She breathed, pushing herself off the wall. "Time to get moving."

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed back against the wall. She then slid down to the ground and lay motionless.

* * *

Panic. Sheer utter panic.

She rushed to Laura's side, calling her name. She blinked and suddenly she was back in the pit after Mother had ripped out Laura's heart. When she blinked again the art room they were actually in came back, until another blink switched things again. It was like her brain was stuck trying to work out the difference between the memory and the present, both linked by the most important thing in her world vanishing away.

"No, no, no, Laura. Please don't do this. Come back. Laura, please."

Laura showed no signs of acquiescing to that request. Her head lolled to the side and when Carmilla checked her heart rate, it was low and sporadic.

She cradled Laura's head, trying desperately to reconcile the urge to try and shake her awake with the urge to be gentle. Should she try CPR? She had the breath for it now. She found herself wracked with indecision, a billion different ideas on what she should do but utterly unable to choose one.

She took a breath and focused. She decided on CPR. She laid Laura prone on her back and prepared to start pressing down on her chest.

But before she could bring her hands down, Laura's eyes opened and let out an explosive breath. She sat up abruptly.

"Creampuffs!" Laura gasped out, apropos of nothing.

"What?" Carmilla said, stunned.

"What? Where am I?" Then a moment later. "Oh right, burning building."

Carmilla hugged her.

"Forget the joke, you are literally going to kill me Hollis. You're going to give me a heart attack."

"Sorry." Laura breathed out. "Sorry."

"Why did you have to exert yourself like that?" Carmilla asked, exasperated. "I could have just taken it from her, you didn't have to convince her. You could have sat down and rested."

Laura's voice was even lower than before, barely breathing out the words.

"Better way, nobody else needed to get hurt."

Carmilla couldn't help but smile, another smile while shaking her head moment.

"Someone lies to her, stabs her in the back, leaves her to die and how does Laura Hollis respond? She tries to make sure they don't get hurt, tries to help them. Because that's what she does, the woman who hugs evil gods, who helps people who betray her, who eats awful pastries to make the baker feel better about themselves."

"I had no choice, his moustache was sad."

Carmilla caressed Laura's face.

"How did I find someone like you? How did I deserve someone so kind?"

"Now who's putting who on a pedestal?" Laura said, humour in her tone.

Carmilla chuckled.

"Yeah well, I only said its wrong when you do it."

They both took a moment, enjoying the comfort they brought each other.

The sound of grinding stone got louder again, cutting the moment short. Carmilla got one arm around the back of Laura's neck and another under her knees before lifting her up.

"Oof, did you really carry me like this while running around those tunnels? Did you get the vampiric strength I lost?"

"Yoga." Laura muttered.

"Oh right, the miracle exercise. How could I forget?"

She carried Laura, who seemed to be now moving in and out of consciousness, through the door and back onto the corridor. It was starting to fill up with black smoke now from the fire. She saw the gargoyle to her right jerking its way towards them. This one had suffered some damage. A chunk of its right arm and leg was missing and bullet holes pocked its stone skin like freckles. It moved the same regardless though. Pain clearly not a factor for it.

She turned her back on it and made for the staircase. Unlike the breathtaking grand staircase on the other corridor, this U-shaped one was small and functional. She raced down the steps only to find another gargoyle coming up them from below. She wasn't sure if it was through sound or some other sense, but they clearly had no difficulties finding them.

The gargoyle took up the entire width of the stairs, there would be no way passed it. She looked around and considered her options. To her right was the staircase's banister. If she vaulted over it she'd land on the lower rungs of the staircase, bypassing the gargoyle completely.

Of course she'd have to do it with Laura in her arms and hope she didn't break her ankles or worse landing on an uneven surface.

So she was about to do something incredibly dangerous with a high chance of failure, what else was new?

"What's happening?" Laura asked, barely above a whisper.

"Oh, you know, just about to do something colossally risky and dumb."

"Sure, okay."

She got down the stairs as far as she could while keeping out of range of the upcoming gargoyle, trying to reduce the distance they'd drop. With a grunt of effort, while still carrying Laura, she pushed herself up into a sitting position on top of the bannister and then swung herself legs first off it and down to the stairs below.

She got lucky. Her feet landed smoothly and the impact of the fall didn't cause her to lose her grip around Laura. Completely good fortune, though she instantly decided to tell Laura later she'd done perfectly by design.

The manoeuvre got her passed the gargoyle and she continued down the stairs.

She looked down at Laura as she ran. It occurred to Carmilla that if they got out of here alive, Laura would remember this whole thing as yet another time that Carmilla had saved her, once again playing the role of her hero and rescuing her from goons and monsters.

But in her own mind, Carmilla felt it was the other way round. She had meant every word she'd said to Gustav. Without Laura she'd never have broken free of Mother and would never have realized that happiness could be an option for her after years of pain and sadness. Every happy moment she'd had at that cottage could be traced back to what Laura had done and continued to do for her every day.

Now Laura had saved her again by saying those words over the radio. Reminding her she didn't have to be the monster Mother and Gustav thought her to be and that there was someone who loved her for who she really was.

"Thank you." She said under her breath as she got to the end of the stairs and onto the ground floor.

It was unlikely that Laura had heard her but that hardly mattered. Words were never going to be enough anyway. She wasn't entirely sure anything would be enough to fully express the gratitude she felt towards Laura for everything she'd done. She looked forward to spending the rest of her life finding out. She brushed the surface of her left pocket with her elbow lightly for a moment.

Now on the ground floor, she ran past a reception desk and found a door to the middle of the courtyard. She went through it and immediately realized the rest of her life might not end up being all that long.

Both the exits, to her left, one that lead out into a main square and to her right, one underneath the destroyed passageway that lead to the Arno River were blocked by multiple gargoyles, three on each side. They turned as one towards them the instant they entered the courtyard. The male goon, who had turned on Gustav earlier, lay face down and clearly dead nearby. Except for the dead bodies of the two who had fallen from the second floor, there was no sign of any others.

Without any goons to distract them, the gargoyles in the courtyard focused on them. The gargoyle from the stairs had almost gotten to the door so she couldn't use it to back out of the courtyard. The door wasn't big enough for the gargoyle to get its own bulk through, but it could still block her from getting through it.

She urgently searched for an escape route as the gargoyles drove her into the middle of the courtyard. To make matters worse, several ear shattering crashes heralded yet more gargoyles walking off the side of the corridors above to land in the courtyard around them.

Clearly, every other human in the Uffizi had either escaped or was dead. The gargoyles were all coming for them now.

They surrounded them in a ragged circle. They were still as slow as ever, but without anywhere to go the gap between the nearest one and them closed alarmingly fast. She desperately tried to think of a way out, something clever. Failing that, she tried to think of what crazy thing Laura would suggest they do if she was fully conscious. Still nothing came to mind. The only thing that did was Laura's joking suggestion of sweet talking the gargoyles back in the tunnels.

"Do you know Ancient Sumerian for 'sweet smelling gargoyle love'?"

She found herself laughing despite the situation. With no real other options coming to mind, she said the exact words in Sumerian at the oncoming gargoyle.

If anything, it started moving faster.

"Well, that was my best shot." She said aloud to no one in particular and then to a barely conscious Laura. "I'm sorry."

The gargoyle stabbed forwards with its spear. She twisted around to put her back in its path, making sure it would hit her before Laura. All things considered, she supposed protecting Laura with her last act wasn't the worst way to end things. She closed her eyes and braced for the spear to stab into her.

Nothing happened.

The sound of grinding stone stopped, to be replaced by the sounds of sirens and the burning fire. She opened her eyes and cautiously turned around.

The gargoyle had frozen in mid attack. Its spear inches away from her and Laura. The gargoyles around them had done the same, frozen like the statues they'd been before Count Bagucci had brought them to life. Now that they were frozen in place, they actually looked like they belonged in an art museum like this, in a blink of an eye, dangerous monsters becoming pieces of art.

She laughed whole heartedly, overjoyed at her and Laura being still alive. Tension and stress leaving her body with every breath, she felt almost giddy.

"Guess you were right Okoye!" She yelled out between her laughs, "just had to wait for the batteries to run out."

Laura started mumbling something inaudible.

Without thinking she bent down and kissed her on the forehead. Laura misinterpreted the action.

"Oh god, we're going to die aren't we?" She said.

Carmilla smiled down at her.

"No, we're fine. We made it."

"Oh… awesome."

Carmilla maneuvered them through the now stationary gargoyles and raced towards the courtyard exit that led into the square. With a grin on her face, she tried to remember the Italian words for 'ambulance' and 'hospital'.


	21. Chapter 21: Laura

A woman was talking near her.

She couldn't quite make out the words so whoever they were, she hoped they weren't talking to her. She didn't want to be rude.

The words, though indistinct, were the only thing in her world right now. A something, however vague, leaking into the void of her current mental state.

She focused on them, trying to tune them in like a radio. Eventually they became clear.

"-regained control in the early morning hours and fire fighters were finally free to contain the blaze -that almost completely consumed the building's smaller Third Corridor after a helicopter crashed into it earlier in the night. Bodies were found at the scene and two survivors emerged from the gallery around the time of its recapture."

A newscaster, she was near a television, or something similar. Focusing on the words opened the floodgates to further sensations.

She felt soft, which was nice. She must be lying on something, what things were soft? The first thing that came to mind was Carmilla but that wasn't right. A bed, she was on a bed, yeah that made more sense. She could feel something nice on her hand as well, she couldn't quite tell what but it felt familiar.

There were more sounds, a vague bustle of voices and footsteps in the background, some beeping sounds and something that sounded oddly like…

A purr.

Her eyes opened.

She was in a hospital room, lying on a bed with white sheets. The newscaster's voice was coming from a small television mounted in the top left corner of the room. The beeping from a heart rate monitor to her left.

To her right was Carmilla.

The purring had been coming from her. Carmilla had brought a chair right up next to the bed and had leant forward to place both her hands on one of Laura's. Now asleep, her head was down, hair fallen over her face. The purr sounded comfortable and content.

Not all that long ago if someone had told Laura she'd be in love with someone who literally purred sometimes she'd have thought them crazy. Now after being with Carmilla for as long as she had, the purring had normalized so much it would be weird not to hear it every once and awhile.

Right now, there wasn't another sound she'd find more comforting.

A memory of what Carmilla had told her before she blanked out come back to her.

We're fine, we made it.

She kept the words in her mind as she listened to the purrs. It was a good combination, so she shut everything else out. She rolled to over to her side facing Carmilla. There was a door half open to the rest of the hospital wing behind her, people would walk passed it occasionally. She ignored them and watched Carmilla for a while, before falling back to sleep.

The television woke her up again. The same newscaster was talking so she couldn't have been asleep for that long.

"In other news, a bizarre incident in Lavalleja, Uruguay where some kind of unidentified snakelike creature reportedly fell from the sky and landed on a cow grazing…"

She opened her eyes again. This time Carmilla was awake as well and her face lit up at seeing Laura stir. Carmilla took one hand away from Laura's used it to lower the volume on the television with a remote.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Such a simple interaction, one word each, but when combined with the looks on their faces and the way their hands began their customary intertwining, it communicated so much.

Hey, I'm happy you're alive.

Hey, we're safe now, it's over.

Hey, I love you.

They had just completed an entire conversation, but to an outsider all it would have looked like was an exchange of greetings.

"What happened?" Laura asked. "I think I remember you taking me out of the Uffizi, the gargoyles stopped for some reason, beyond that I'm a little hazy."

She was glad to hear more strength in her voice. She had been barely able to talk at all after using the Sarratum. Which for her was pretty much one of the outer layers of hell.

"I ran you into the square and to the nearest ambulance. We had quite the audience there. Felt like half of Florence was in that square. The other half was probably across the Arno. Lucky for us actually, the police didn't want to let me go with you, but the crowd booed rather loudly when they didn't. I think it pressured them into letting me go temporarily, never been happier to be surrounded by people."

She snorted before continuing.

"Oh, and the paramedic lady fell in love with you as soon I put you on the stretcher in front of her. So your one woman seduction of Florence continues unabated." Her voice had taken on that demur quality Laura now associated with Carmilla joking.

She wasn't quite sure what the joke there was, but Carmilla seemed to enjoy it so she ignored it and let Carmilla finish.

"I tried to talk to you in the ambulance on the way here, but apparently I bored you so much you fell asleep. I'll try not to take it personally."

You fell unconscious again and I freaked out, Laura translated. She squeezed Carmilla's hand.

"I feel so much better, are they giving me drugs? Morphine?"

Carmilla chuckled.

"They did, but that's probably wearing off. You're most likely enjoying all the blood and fluids they've been giving you. Turns out on top of everything else, you were also dehydrated."

"The fun never ends for us does it?"

Carmilla shook her head.

"At least we got some new clothes finally." She said, gesturing to her and Laura's clothing.

They were both wearing hospital gowns. They were basic, unremarkable. After having to deal with her sweat soaked shirt and pants for the past few days, it felt like having expensive silk wrapped around her.

"I'd like to think I wear it well." Carmilla said, exaggerating her usual charming purr for comedic effect.

Laura laughed.

"Well I love mine and you look as great as ever, but there isn't a speck of black on them, so I'm sure you're dying a little bit inside every second you're in them."

A woman came into the room to check on Laura. Initially Laura thought her to be a nurse but then realized she was actually a paramedic by her uniform. She smiled at Laura nervously as she worked. Laura couldn't work out why they'd have a paramedic doing a nurse's job but they seemed nice so she didn't say anything.

When she left Carmilla was shaking her head again.

"The best part is you don't even realize you're doing it. In that way, you put even my best attempts at seduction to shame."

"Wha-?" She asked, baffled. "What do you mean?"

Carmilla leant down towards her.

"Don't worry about it."

The kiss was soft and lingering. Neither felt any need for it stop any time soon. Laura found herself making a few appreciative noises, which Carmilla apparently used as motivation to deepen it while stroking the side of her face. Similar to their two word conversation earlier being more than the verbal, the kiss was more than just how lovely it felt. After the last few harrowing days, it was like the animal part of her needed to know it was all over, that the danger had past and that normality had come back. Logic wasn't going to help with that, saying words wasn't going to help with that.

But lying in a nice and soft bed while Carmilla kissed her was probably the most normal and safe thing in her life now. She felt herself relax, both physically and mentally, her muscles loosening, her heart beating slower. It was like every caress of Carmilla's tongue against hers, every suck on her lip was a signal that she was safe, that she didn't need to worry anymore.

Carmilla ended it with a final kiss to the cheek and smiled at what must have been a rather dazed expression on Laura's face. Carmilla looked down at her, adoring. If Laura could see that expression on that face every day of her life she'd count herself lucky.

After the moment passed, Carmilla picked up a clipboard from a small bedside table in a languid movement.

"They put a list of all your injuries on here. Well, I say list, it reads more like a Mary Shelley novel. You'd think they stitched you back together and shocked you to life looking at this. Gunshot wound, dehydration, lacerations, extreme fatigue, bruising and I don't even know what a couple of these even mean exactly. Oh, they also put malnutrition as well. I think they want you to eat a burger. When was the last time we ate?"

"Too long." Laura said.

"I think they're a little in the dark when it comes to life energy sucking ancient artefacts. They get that you're exhausted and drained and the best these fools can think of is stuffing you full of fluids, blood, food, physical stuff. I mean sure you do need all those things but what you lost from using that mask was more than that. Only time can replace it."

Her eyes locked with hers. They were piercing. She wanted the truth from her.

"How are you really feeling?"

"Tired," she admitted. "But better, I mean that. Back there in the Uffizi, I could barely keep awake. I'm much better now. Maybe not run a marathon good, but marathon Orphan Black on that TV over there? Yeah I bet I could do that no problem."

Carmilla nodded and relief flickered across her face for a moment, but then her expression became pained, anxious.

"Gun fights, angry skeletons, giant snakes, life sucking masks. You ever deal with anything even remotely like that before you met me?"

"No, I guess not."

"You ever, think that... maybe it wasn't worth it? That it would have been better to go to a different school, to have never have met me and not have had all these horrible ordeals in your life?"

This time Laura found Carmilla's eyes. She took her time in finding and holding Carmilla's gaze, wanting to do everything in her power to make sure Carmilla knew her next words were nothing but the truth.

"I regret a lot of things that happened after I came to Silas. But I wouldn't change the fact I met you for anything. I'm stronger, wiser and so much happier from being with you. The naïve ignorant girl I was before I came to Silas, I'd still be her without you in my life. I'm not sad about going to Silas, I'm grateful that I met you." She reached out a hand and placed it on Carmilla's knee. "I wanted to come here with you and I'm glad I did."

Carmilla's expression softened and Laura knew she'd succeeded.

"You told me a story, back at the cottage," Laura said, continuing, "About a lonely girl who didn't have a friend in the world. I know that girl suffered a lot. I know she went through things no one should have to. I can't change that, but maybe I can at least give that story a happy ending. That girl who wanted a friend? She found one, it took a few centuries, but she found one. And as long as she's willing to put up with them, they'd quite like to stick around."

Tears rolled freely down Carmilla's face. She didn't say anything for a time. Laura let her have a moment. Instead she pushed herself backwards on the bed slightly, freeing up some space for a second person.

Carmilla took the invitation. Sliding under the white sheet and sharing the pillow with Laura, who began wiping the tears away.

"I love you." Carmilla said finally. It was simple and it was powerful.

"I love you, too."

* * *

The next few days came and went at a comfortable pace. Much of them were spent lying in the bed watching the only English language news station on the wall mounted television. In a way, watching events at the Uffizi was more surreal than dealing with the coterie of supernatural creatures and situations in the past year. Carmilla hadn't been bothered about keeping a low profile when she rushed Laura to first ambulance she could find. Thousands of people had been in the square to see them, which mean thousands of cameras.

Dealing with ancient Gods and stopping the apocalypse? Nothing compared to the horror of seeing your face on a television screen. And the picture they used was terrible anyway, why did they have to use that one.

"So much for keeping a low profile like Okoye said those intelligence services wanted us to do." Carmilla quipped next to her, apparently glued to the chair for as long as Laura remained bedridden.

"Are we under arrest? I feel like we should be under arrest. I mean I'm not complaining if we aren't, it's just, you know, we kinda snuck into the Uffizi and then like a third of it burnt down."

"The smallish third."

"Still, why aren't we under arrest, or at least being questioned?"

"Yeah I was going to get around to that. There were some detectives when we arrived, very aggressive, wanted to make the doctors wake you up so they could talk to us both. You'd be so proud of me, I killed none of them. But then they got some message and they backed off. I couldn't work it out until I overheard one of them complaining about some bald lady."

She sighed.

"Turns out you're way with Okoye was the best option after all, looks like she came through for us. I guess with everyone who knows she was going to betray Corvae other than us being dead, she's still good with them. She must have pulled some strings with the police and here in the hospital as well apparently. I asked the doctors how long you could stay. They said it's all been taken care off."

"Do we like her now? I'm a little confused."

"I don't" Carmilla said. "But I guess I wouldn't kill her if I saw her again."

Carmilla pulled out a phone and handed it to her.

"I was also given this. They said you should check your bank account with it."

When Laura did, she shouted so loud a nurse came running. The obscenely large transfer came with a message.

Technically, you did the job I asked you to do. Find the Sarratum and give it to me. Despite what happened after, the terms of your contract was completed. Consider this your payment in full. Enjoy Ms Hollis.

"Yeah, we don't have to kill her." Laura said. "We don't have to kill her at all."

* * *

The police and the hospital may have been swayed by Okoye but apparently even her power had limits when it came to dogged journalists determined to get a story. Laura lost count of how many Carmilla growled away. She was immensely appreciative of that, she had no idea what she would say to them if they got the chance to ask any questions. Carmilla assured her they would move on to another story eventually.

For the one person she actually did want to communicate with not in the room with her twenty four seven, the phone came in handy. She tried texts, but she wasn't getting out of this without a proper voice conversation with her dad.

"Going to Florence on vacation she says, I stop getting texts, then I call and some woman near the, the… Apennine Mountains is on the other end, wherever that is, saying you're in some tunnels somewhere and then you're on the news looking half dead, being carried out of a burning building!"

It took her most of a day to calm him down, though by the end she wondered whether he was being rather clever, in leveraging the situation to guilt trip her into staying on the phone so he could hear her voice for hours and hours. She couldn't begrudge him that. She had most likely driven him close to a heart attack after all. He had also asked about Carmilla's wellbeing, which caused her to beam at Carmilla, mouthing, part of the family now.

She'd probably been in the hospital for over week until she realized she didn't actually know what particular hospital she was even in. The Santa Maria Nuova she learned from Carmilla when she asked. A very old hospital but also very beautiful it turned out once she finally convinced Carmilla she was ready to leave her bed for a while to explore it. Its renaissance era architecture stood out with an entrance covered in stone archways and everywhere she looked she found artistry in the forms of various sculptures, lunettes and monuments.

She wished she could have explored it more than she did, but Carmilla's assertion that only time would replenish her turned out to be true. Even Carmilla wheeling her around on a wheelchair wore her out and on most days she slept about as much as she was awake. Her irritation at her fatigue didn't go unnoticed.

"Give yourself some time." Carmilla said, chiding but in good humour. "Mother, the ancient God, refused to get up off her bed for at least a month after using that mask. Here you are getting annoyed after barely a week."

If she was honest, a big part of her impatience was that every day she spent in the hospital, a public building, was one more day she spent in the same room with Carmilla and be unable to take advantage of it fully. Having her so close, often touching, sleeping in the same bed, but not going further than kissing out of fear of someone walking in was… aggravating.

Laura could see it in Carmilla's eyes as well, a hunger growing every day. But she clearly was going to push for Laura to stay in the hospital for as long as she could regardless. Putting Laura's wellbeing first like she always did.

So the days continued, dragging longer and longer. She was on the edge of asking Carmilla about the prospect of going back to the cottage, even if she wasn't fully healed. Finally, at the end of one of her better days she decided to do it.

Near the backend of the Santa Maria Nuova was a small square grass covered courtyard. It had quickly become Laura's favourite place in the hospital and for the better part of the night they'd been sitting in it on a bench next to a large tree full of twittering birds she could hear but not see.

If she looked up, she'd see a clear night full of stars. Most of the hospital had gone to sleep, so other than the birds it was peacefully quiet.

"We should visit Amaya some time, to thank her and make sure she's okay." Laura said, trying to broach the subject of leaving the hospital delicately.

"It was a nice place," Carmilla responded, "and I suppose she did help us a fair bit."

Good start. Laura could see how silly she was being here. Carmilla wasn't trying to be her jailer. If she firmly stated she wanted to go they'd go. But it felt important to her for them to discuss it and agree to whatever they were going to do together.

"So I was thinking…" Laura started but trailed off when she noticed Carmilla's body language and demeanour.

She seemed nervous, her feet tapping anxiously, her eyes unfocused. Her hands held something in her lap Laura couldn't see, whatever it was Carmilla fidgeted with it non-stop.

"Carm? What's up?"

Carmilla looked at her. She swallowed and bit her lip.

"I, ah, was also thinking, a lot. For a while, actually, though especially these past few days and after what you said, that really did meant a lot to me. But I kept thinking there would be a better time. I might also have been a bit scared of your answer, but then on the bridge-"

"Bridge? Carm what bridge?" Laura asked, utterly confused. She'd never seen Carmilla babble before, was this how she babbled? Was this what Carmilla had to put up with, being with her every day?

"Is there something wrong? Whatever it is we'll deal, it will be okay."

Carmilla laughed, it was shaky but true.

"No, nothing's wrong, nothing's wrong at all. I'm just being an idiot. Okay, let's try this again."

She took a breath. She looked like she was trying to psyche herself up for something. When she started speaking again, it was much more confident and coherent.

"I've wanted to do this for a while, God, the idea that after all this waiting for the right moment, I'm going to do it while we're both in a sanatorium wearing hospital gowns."

She shook her head.

"But I don't want to wait anymore. I need to know what your answer would be, I think I know, but I need to be sure."

She got off the bench and stood in front of her. A part of Laura's sub conscious could tell that this was going somewhere immeasurably important, but she couldn't quite work it out.

"Laura, you have changed everything for me. I was convinced for so long that happiness was something I could never have. That I'd always be shackled to the whims people like my Father, like Mother, like Gustav. That I belonged to them and there was no escape. Every time I tried to change that myself I lost. I lost so much I stopped trying, because I didn't want to feel the pain of it anymore."

"Then you came along. You showed me that it didn't have to be that way. Mother wasn't invincible, I wasn't helpless and maybe with someone to help me I could know something other than misery. You've changed the very story of my life, Laura. Thanks to you for the first time in three centuries I am free to do whatever I want. To choose to do anything, choose to go anywhere."

She paused and opened her palms to reveal what she'd been holding. A gold ring affixed with a shining pearl.

"Or choose anyone to be with. That's the first real choice I want to make as a free woman."

She got down on one knee. Laura's heart stopped.

"Laura-"

"Yes!" Laura blurted out.

Carmilla chuckled, her face alight with humour.

"Sweetheart, you have to let me ask the question first."

"Oh right, yeah, right, of course yeah." Laura nodded faster than woodpecker as she babbled. Well at least the universe had righted itself in that particular area.

Carmilla began asking the question again with a beaming smile on her face. Proposing to someone was clearly much easier when you already knew their answer.

"Laura Hollis, will you marry me?"

"Yes!"

Laura half lunged, half fell into Carmilla as she said it. Enveloping her and kissing her deeply. Carmilla accepted the embrace and held her tightly. Then Laura, suddenly full of more energy than she'd felt for days jumped a little and wrapped her legs around Carmilla's posterior.

They veered wildly to the side and hit the tree as they kissed, causing the majority of the birds to fly out in alarm. They both laughed and fell together to the ground and rolled underneath it. She wanted to repeat the word 'yes' over and over, she wanted to keep kissing Carmilla, she wanted to laugh in happiness. She ended up doing a bit of all three.

Then suddenly that wasn't enough and it didn't matter where they were. As soon as Laura had realized what was going on, it was like they had entered a bubble, one that encompassed her and Carmilla and no one else. They grinded against each other, laughing, kissing, whispering sweetly in each other's ears and then moaning, as hands found their way under flimsy hospital gowns.

When Carmilla rolled off of her, her body remembered the whole 'life energy sucking mask' thing she was recovering from and duly crashed from exhaustion. She rolled out from under the tree and with a last burst of effort nestled up next to Carmilla. They lay on their backs looking up at the stars. Their hair tangled together on the grass and as always their hands found each other.

"Where did you even get the ring?" Laura asked, inquisitive to the end.

"You remember when we were on the Ponte Vecchio and I went off for a few seconds?"

"Yeah, oh my God, you stole it, you stole the engagement ring that is… currently on my finger, how did you do that without me noticing?"

"Magic. Also, I was doing a pretty good job distracting you."

Laura held the ring on her finger out in front of her, admiring it. She remembered it now, in a jewellery shop on the bridge right before they had met Pisano at the flea market. After everything that they'd been through since, it felt crazy to remember that had happened barely more than a week ago.

"So, what's next from here?" Laura asked mildly.

They both laughed.

"Well, we'll have to see whether being on Okoye's good side keeps us off Corvae's bad side, for one." Carmilla said.

"We also have to work out whether we're famous or not and what that might mean." Laura continued the list.

"I should warn you, I've been alive for three centuries and that builds up some baggage. I can't say for sure nothing from my past is going to crop up unexpectedly to give us problems."

"We'll deal with it, whatever it is." Laura said with confidence. "Oh, also what are we going to with this obscene amount of money we now have?"

"And check up on that Satyr and a-"

"Wedding." They both said it at the same time and then grinned at each other.

"Well, I do believe this one was all my idea. What do you want to do next?" Carmilla said.

Laura didn't reply for a moment. She soaked it all in. The feel of the grass on her back, the star filled night sky, the chittering of the birds. Then she looked over at the woman she loved. Black hair she'd tangled hands through countless times, dark eyes that so often looked at her adoringly, a mouth curved in smile she loved so much to see. She was beautiful and Laura was going to spend the rest of her life with her.

The rest of her life was a long time, no need to rush. She snuggled in closer and kissed Carmilla on the cheek.

"For now, let's just keep doing this."


End file.
